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Freedom, Not Tariff, Is the Most Beautiful Word in the Dictionary

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KenH

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Throwing around generalized and vague terms like anti-free market sounds good but has nothing substantial to back it.

The arguments for free trade are well-documented. It is too bad that the MAGA has turned it back on Ronald Reagan.
 

Revmitchell

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the better option here is that country have reciprocal tariffs. Equal in nature and we have equal access to each others markets. But that is not what is going on right now. Tarrifs will work to change the behavior of the other countries.
 

Revmitchell

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Which raises the cost paid by Americans, including those who import raw materials and intermediate goods used in manufacturing.
It only costs American more if they purchase those products from them. So American need to avoid them and by American
 

KenH

Well-Known Member
"America's most recent experiment with protectionism was a disaster for the working men and women of this country. When Congress passed the Smoot-Hawley tariff in 1930, we were told that it would protect America from foreign competition and save jobs in this country -- the same line we hear today.
...
Ever since that time, the American people have stayed true to our heritage by rejecting the siren song of protectionism. In recent years, the trade deficit led some misguided politicians to call for protectionism, warning that otherwise we would lose jobs. But they were wrong again. In fact, the United States not only didn't lose jobs, we created more jobs than all the countries of Western Europe, Canada, and Japan combined. The record is clear that when America's total trade has increased, American jobs have also increased. And when our total trade has declined, so have the number of jobs.

Part of the difficulty in accepting the good news about trade is in our words. We too often talk about trade while using the vocabulary of war. In war, for one side to win, the other must lose. But commerce is not warfare. Trade is an economic alliance that benefits both countries. There are no losers, only winners. And trade helps strengthen the free world.

Yet today protectionism is being used by some American politicians as a cheap form of nationalism...Our peaceful trading partners are not our enemies; they are our allies. We should beware of the demagogs who are ready to declare a trade war against our friends -- weakening our economy, our national security, and the entire free world -- all while cynically waving the American flag. The expansion of the international economy is not a foreign invasion; it is an American triumph, one we worked hard to achieve, and something central to our vision of a peaceful and prosperous world of freedom.

After the Second World War, America led the way to dismantle trade barriers and create a world trading system that set the stage for decades of unparalleled economic growth."

- excerpt from Ronald Reagan's radio address, November 26, 1988
 

Revmitchell

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Our allies do not charge us 245% tariffs. That is not the behavior of an Ally. Trade barriers did not get dismantled at all. the UK has high tariffs Canada etc. The world has been fleecing America and we have been footing the bill for the UK Security through tariffs, NATO, and the ungodly billions sent tot he Ukraine. The idea of free trade works fine when dealing with honest partners. Canada and the UK, China etc. have not been that.
 

Revmitchell

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It would take several years to build production plants to replace what Americans import. What about those items that are not even available in the United States?
Well we are working on the reconstruction of the manufacturing industry that was destroyed by Obama and Biden. We have not lost all of it and we need to ramp up what we have.
 
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