International Trade
September 25th, 2006 by
Senior Editor: Jeff
There is a great contradiction in the way our government approaches international trade and relationships. On the one hand, we offer copious amounts of foreign aide to countries. On the other hand, we impose a plethora of tariffs on imported items. These policies are hardly beneficial to either party.
When we provide aide packages to other countries we doing little more than international welfare. It has been decided that we have too much money, and they have too little, and so we take it upon ourselves to give them more. This of course, like domestic welfare, teaches dependency. They have little incentive to rise above their circumstances if we are going to continually give them money if they do not. We have taught them the merits of socialism.
We also place tariffs on imported goods in order to “protect” domestic producers. Sounds great. But who is really benefiting from tariffs? Not the public as a whole, only those whose business is protected by the tariffs. If domestic producers are not the most efficient why should we insist they continue to produce? The rest of us are forced to pay higher prices for goods produced inefficiently. Tariffs also have the added effect of compounding the welfare for other countries previously discussed by imposing tariffs on what goods they are able to produce and export to us.
Consider this: we give them money so they can produce on their own, to help them rise above their circumstances. What does it say to them that we are going to then penalize them for producing and trying to sell in America? Does it not effectively demonstrate to them that they should not bother producing anything? Our citizens are then forced to pay doubly: first for the aide given, and then in higher prices due to tariffs on items produced more efficiently. Surely we can find a better way than this contradiction in policy. Freedom should be embraced from all angles.
