Trump’s False Tariff ‘Fairness’ Argument
President Trump’s argument for starting an international trade war is based on a socialistic-sounding plea for “fairness” and equality. Some foreign governments plunder their citizens with high tariff taxes on American imports, thereby forcing them to pay higher prices for those or competing domestic goods. The reason they are called “protective” tariffs is that they “protect” consumers from lower prices. When your foreign competitor is forced to pay a 50 percent tax on his products and you do not, you can increase your price by say, 40 percent and still underprice him. Politically connected corporations pocket this loot at the expense of their hapless, politically unorganized fellow citizens. Tariff taxes are legalized theft for the benefit of already-rich corporations and their unions (if they are unionized). They have never been anything more than yet another vote-buying scheme that empowers the politically powerful and screws the common consumer, clouded by phony rhetoric about patriotism and nationalism.
President Trump’s demand of “fairness” is as follows: Whate
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LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
