A personal anecdote with a maybe broader lesson ...
On a trip to Germany in September, I bought some dinnerware to send home as a gift. The shop arranged shipping and insurance. "You may also have to pay some duty," the manager said. "Sure, of course." 1/x
On a trip to Germany in September, I bought some dinnerware to send home as a gift. The shop arranged shipping and insurance. "You may also have to pay some duty," the manager said. "Sure, of course." 1/x
The goods arrived in perfect order about 3 weeks later. Globalization worked as it should. Today I got my duty invoice: a 21% tariff rate! 2/x
We tend to imagine that we have arrived at the free-trade destination already. But we really haven't. And while I don't expect much sympathy for the protectionism on my Meissen dinnerware, the tariff bites just as hard on the plates sold at Wal-Mart, reminding me of ... 3/x
this classic 2002 essay by Edward Gresser on tariffs as a forgotten regressive tax system on the consumption of the poor: plates, shoes, clothes. foreignaffairs.com/articles/2002-… 4/x
Gresser:
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The United States does not need to negotiate big new trade deals to improve outcomes. The tariff system bequeathed by the 19th century just needs to go, every rate to 0%. Replace tariffs with a VAT or better a carbon tax on all consumption. Meet China on contemporary trade issues
like intellectual property, labor and enviro standards, etc. Then let Americans and everybody buy their necessities at the free-trade price. End zombie protectionism on the products of the 19th century.
