What’s the appropriate reaction to these Trump tariffs for someone who is a believer in Austrian economics?
Aren’t these tariffs going to be paid by the US companies who are doing the importing, not actually these foreign countries doing the exporters, where those price increases are ultimately going to be passed onto consumers?
And from what I understand, the supposedly “reciprocal” tariffs that Trump announced today, average about 25% on all imports to the US, but they aren’t actually reciprocal at all. Instead they’re calculated based upon each countries trade deficit with the US, using their imports vs exports.
So if these countries really do impose reciprocal/retalitory tariffs, equal to what we’re placing upon them, won’t that hurt US exports and US manufacturing?
If we put tariffs on parts and materials, won’t that raise US manufacturing costs, making our exports less competitive abroad?
Aren’t some countries are better suited at producing certain products, where free trade is supposed to balance out each countries comparative advantages or strengths ? Like we can’t really grow coffee and bananas in the US, so why would we punish consumers by tariffing imports on those items?
And isn’t placing all this power to tax imports in the hands of a single politician a kind of centralized government, which seems like a recipe for quid-pro-quo corruption, with parallels to a socialistic centrally planned economy?
submitted by /u/EarthAsWeKnowIt
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