KenH
Well-Known Member
"Whoever leads the incoming Trump administration’s trade team faces a difficult task. In the face of theoretical flaws, historical experience, and, frankly, common sense, they will have to convince Americans that a policy of deliberate inefficiency and increased costs through higher tariffs will somehow make the country better off. But prosperity through higher taxes on imported goods is neither an intuitive nor easily swallowed argument—and mountains of economic evidence show why.
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The benefits of free trade and the costs of tariffs remain straightforward, rooted in compelling economic logic, and supported by piles of empirical research. Tariffs’ net economic harms are one of the few issues on which almost all economists — left, right, and center — agree. Raising costs and introducing barriers to the efficient production of goods — and inviting other countries to respond in kind — will harm American consumers and businesses and ultimately harm the US economy overall. Try as protectionists might to prove otherwise, protectionism remains an economic loser, and no amount of alchemy will change that fact."
- rest of article at https://www.cato.org/blog/trump-teams-case-new-tariffs-remains-daunting
...
The benefits of free trade and the costs of tariffs remain straightforward, rooted in compelling economic logic, and supported by piles of empirical research. Tariffs’ net economic harms are one of the few issues on which almost all economists — left, right, and center — agree. Raising costs and introducing barriers to the efficient production of goods — and inviting other countries to respond in kind — will harm American consumers and businesses and ultimately harm the US economy overall. Try as protectionists might to prove otherwise, protectionism remains an economic loser, and no amount of alchemy will change that fact."
- rest of article at https://www.cato.org/blog/trump-teams-case-new-tariffs-remains-daunting