Protectionism Is More Idiotic Than It Looks by James Bovard November 19, 2024 Donald Trump’s re-election assures that protectionism will become even more fashionable inside the Beltway. Trump recently declared that tariff is “the most beautiful word in the dictionary,” and the exaltation of trade barriers has become the latest political mania. Washington hustlers are loudly promising to enrich the nation by selectively blockading American ports. Unfortunately, the Trump team and the ...
The Real Problem with Biden’s “Buy American” Policy by Laurence M. Vance February 2, 2021 Joe Biden has already issued more executive orders during his first two weeks in office than any previous president. One of them is something that Donald Trump could have issued verbatim. On April 18, 2017, Trump issued Executive Order 13788, “Buy American and Hire American.” The policy statement is found in Section 2: It shall be the policy ...
Tariff Walls and Trade Wars Equal Government Planning by Richard M. Ebeling May 21, 2018 Trade wars are dangerous and harmful policies for governments to pursue. They hurt consumers due to higher prices and fewer alternatives; they reduce competitive opportunities for producers by restricting markets; and they narrow the benefits that come from a market-based system of division of labor in which each participant tends to devote his or her efforts to supplying the ...
Protectionism Is Central Planning by Laurence M. Vance December 9, 2014 At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum last month in China, Barack Obama championed the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, which, if enacted, would be the world’s largest trade agreement, accounting for more than 40 percent of world GDP. “What we are seeing,” Obama told those in attendance at the APEC summit’s opening session, “is momentum building ...
Uncle Sam Is a Sugar Daddy by Laurence M. Vance July 19, 2012 When the government of a foreign country tells companies in a particular industry how much of its product it can sell; guarantees minimum prices; provides nonrecourse loans; restricts imports of foreign product; buys up excess product; and seeks to stabilize, support, and protect the industry, it is denounced as socialism or central planning. But when the same thing occurs in ...
