Route246
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2023
- Messages
- 765
From a purely economics (macro) point of view, is there anyone out there who is in favor of tariffs because of the macroeconomic benefits they provide? I'm not talking about politics, geopolitical aspects or trade wars. Is there ever a case where a tariff is beneficial in a macroeconomic sense?
I know this forum is loaded with thinkers, savers, capitalists and fiscally sound minds. My personal opinion is that there is no place where a tariff is justified. I'm a libertarian in terms of economics and I believe in free markets and I also believe that markets will always optimize according to supply and demand because in a freely traded market that supply will always align with demand in terms of pricing. Some of might not like that but it is the way that free markets work.
I am also pro-consumer and if t-shirts from Bangladesh can be made more efficiently than in Toledo, Ohio then Bangladesh wins in that market. One thing lost in all of this is that these trading partners like China have manufacturing entities that are not very profitable in a microeconomic level. Most are barely scraping by or operating at a loss with the help of the government in some cases. From my standpoint it is all good because I like cheap goods that meet my quality requirements. I use Apple products made in China and I like them, I'm satisfied with them and I'm willing to pay hard earned money for them. I really don't care if they are made in Shenzhen Province or Phoenix, AZ., I just want a high quality product at an acceptable price.
This is totally different from regulation which I am greatly in favor of when inevitable market monopolies happen (electric power grid, communications spectrum, public education, etc
I honestly can’t think of a good macroeconomic reason to justify tariffs. To me, they seem anti-competitive, anti-consumer, and they throw off the balance of the global economy. What’s frustrating is that this feels like a massive issue that the media isn’t really covering properly. They act like there’s a real debate going on, but from where I’m sitting, it looks pretty one-sided—most economists agree tariffs do more harm than good, and yet we don’t hear much about that. It’s like the elephant in the room no one’s talking about.
I know this forum is loaded with thinkers, savers, capitalists and fiscally sound minds. My personal opinion is that there is no place where a tariff is justified. I'm a libertarian in terms of economics and I believe in free markets and I also believe that markets will always optimize according to supply and demand because in a freely traded market that supply will always align with demand in terms of pricing. Some of might not like that but it is the way that free markets work.
I am also pro-consumer and if t-shirts from Bangladesh can be made more efficiently than in Toledo, Ohio then Bangladesh wins in that market. One thing lost in all of this is that these trading partners like China have manufacturing entities that are not very profitable in a microeconomic level. Most are barely scraping by or operating at a loss with the help of the government in some cases. From my standpoint it is all good because I like cheap goods that meet my quality requirements. I use Apple products made in China and I like them, I'm satisfied with them and I'm willing to pay hard earned money for them. I really don't care if they are made in Shenzhen Province or Phoenix, AZ., I just want a high quality product at an acceptable price.
This is totally different from regulation which I am greatly in favor of when inevitable market monopolies happen (electric power grid, communications spectrum, public education, etc
I honestly can’t think of a good macroeconomic reason to justify tariffs. To me, they seem anti-competitive, anti-consumer, and they throw off the balance of the global economy. What’s frustrating is that this feels like a massive issue that the media isn’t really covering properly. They act like there’s a real debate going on, but from where I’m sitting, it looks pretty one-sided—most economists agree tariffs do more harm than good, and yet we don’t hear much about that. It’s like the elephant in the room no one’s talking about.