For example. Couldn’t China’s tariff’s be based on something like the workers in China having benefits, a 40 hour work week, and other things like that? And once they are brought to a level closer to our own? The effect would raise their costs, and the tariff’s would go down to reciprocate, and the end result would make it easier to compete as our costs would be closer to the same?
I mean I know that’d mean caring about something other than your own country (though I feel like enlightened self interest could definately play a part).
Comments
The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written.
For example. Couldn’t China’s tariff’s be based on something like the workers in China having benefits, a 40 hour work week, and other things like that? And once they are brought to a level closer to our own? The effect would raise their costs, and the tariff’s would go down to reciprocate, and the end result would make it easier to compete as our costs would be closer to the same?
I mean I know that’d mean caring about something other than your own country (though I feel like enlightened self interest could definately play a part).
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
>…couldn’t we use Tariff’s to implement social change?
We just did. We implemented the “social change” of making everyone poorer.
The importer pays the fee …
> Couldn’t China’s tariff’s be based on something like the workers in China having benefits, a 40 hour work week, and other things like that?
This used to be a popular idea called ‘fair trade’ (as an alternative to ‘free trade’) and the general consensus is that it wouldn’t work.
EDIT: I Googled, hoping to find some sources, but it seems that a voluntary movement — also called “fair trade” — was much more successful, so it has left many more artifacts. There is very little record of the version of ‘fair trade’ that as pitched as a progressive alternative to ‘free trade’ circa 2008.
How about we just strive to eliminate trade barriers entirely.
Let’s sign free trade agreements with the world.
This was part of the left-wing opposition to free trade agreements like the TPP and NAFTA – some unions were opposed because they would get undercut by non-union labor.
We have been pressuring countries on stuff like that using trade for a century or more. Tariffs are one possible tool for that effect. Yes. But not the best one.
Tariffs don’t raise the cost of manufacturing for the tariffed country. They raise the cost of selling it in the country tariffing them.
All the tariffs will do is make the seller go somewhere else.
NAFTA and USMCA did some of this, certain labor rights had to be protected based on the treaty, but those were carrots not the stick Trump is swinging.
People have also proposed the idea of carbon tariffs, where if country B doesn’t care about pollution then country A can adjust the price at the border to account for the cost of the efforts country A is putting in.
In theory yes, we could use certain types of tariffs as a useful tool.
In theory maybe, but people probably don’t care enough about those goals to do so effectively.
You’re referring to tariffs as a diplomatic tactic. That rarely works, since they can simply impose reciprocal tariffs and it’s not very incentivizing.
Yes, we could, things like a carbon border adjustment tax would be helpful.