Tariffs are becoming widely accepted by U.S. politicians and policymakers as an important tool for maintaining and rebuilding our industrial economy. But quotas, a related tool, can sometimes work better to restrain imports and encourage growth in domestic production, investment and jobs.
When George Washington was President, consensus existed that tariffs should be used for both (1) federal revenue purposes, and also (2) to protect domestic production. This consensus was embodied in the first sentence of the first U.S. Tariff Act, passed on July 4, 1789.
The leading contenders for the White House all favor blocking the U.S. Steel sale to Nippon Steel of Japan, a sale that might yet reward its senior executive, David Burritt, with a $72 million pay package once it closes. Globalist-thinking institutions are all in favor of the deal.
Trump spoke for nearly two hours in his usual off the cuff speaking engagement at the Detroit Economic Club in Michigan recently. The automotive industry was a priority topic, with the presidential candidate saying Washington has to incentivize American auto makers.
Two years of plant closures have led steel pipe maker Zekelman Industries to take matters into its own hands. The company announced on Oct. 21 that it filed a lawsuit against the Mexican government for breaching a 2019 joint steel trade agreement with the United States.
Tariffs are a progressive policy that reverse the negative economic effects of free trade, creating good-paying jobs, boosting working-class income, and reducing income inequality.
A new solar company called Ebon Solar has secured a $10 million grant from the state of New Mexico, along with $1 million in financing and another $1 billion in a state-backed bond, to build an 834,000-square-foot solar cell manufacturing facility near Albuquerque.
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai said the proper use of tariffs as a trade tool is good for the middle class, especially those that work in the industrial sectors of the economy. No tariffs, on the other hand, may lower costs of goods sold.
Proposals for new tariffs face a lot of criticism these days, from the media, from economists, and from foreign policy types. Part of the reason is that it’s Donald Trump making the proposals and many in those groups don’t like Trump. But the fact is that tariffs can work to build our economy. They have worked before and they have worked recently as well.
The August trade figures came in surprisingly low on Tuesday, falling 10% to $70.4 billion, marking the lowest monthly goods and services gap since March ($67.9 billion), the Bureau of Economic Analysis said today.
