MYTH: High tariffs start trade wars.
FACT: This is the line being peddled by nations that have had high tariffs and trade restrictions for years. Why wasn't it a "trade war" when those nations enacted high tariffs? Why is it only a "trade war" when we dare to even talk about doing what many other nations have been doing for years?
MYTH: High tariffs cause job losses and hurt economic growth.
FACT: Why haven't we seen this in China? How did America become an economic powerhouse during the decades when we had high tariffs and other trade restrictions? History has shown that protective tariffs give you a net gain in jobs and economic growth.
MYTH: High tariffs mean higher prices for consumers.
FACT: The price increases that do occur are usually minimal and are a small price to pay for the documented, proven benefits of protective tariffs: job growth, investment, and expansion. Furthermore, when people are able to get better jobs, the increase in their buying power far exceeds whatever price increases have occurred.
MYTH: Tariffs are government meddling in the free market.
FACT: Tell me how an American factory in Ohio is supposed to be able to compete with a Third World factory or a South American factory that can pay its workers dirt wages with few if any benefits and that faces few if any regulatory costs?
Tariffs are not not "government meddling"; they are the government performing a function that every Republican from Abraham Lincoln to Warren G. Harding saw as an essential role of government.
MYTH: Bush tried tariffs in 2002 and they failed, so he cancelled them.
FACT: The Bush tariffs were riddled with exemptions, some 700 of them, so they were bound to have little overall positive effect. Look how the U.S. tire industry rebounded after President Obama wisely imposed stiff tariffs on Chinese tire imports. Look how American jobs were preserved and how the American motorcycle industry was saved after President Reagan imposed high tariffs on Japanese motorcycles.
MYTH: The Hoover tariffs (the Smoot-Hawley Tariff) turned a recession into the Great Depression and caused a trade war.
FACT: This timeworn myth has been debunked numerous times. Globalists and many misguided free traders claim that the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, passed in 1930, continue to peddle this myth. But this claim is erroneous. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff raised tariff rates by only 2.5 percentage points, and the economy was already starting to slow down by the time the tariff was passed anyway. Furthermore, the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922 raised tariff rates by a much larger amount, and that tariff was followed by six years of robust economic growth. And virtually no nations retaliated to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff (partly because they knew they were using protectionist policies as well).
MYTH: Trade deficits are not bad, since we are a nation of consumers.
FACT: This is a novel argument. Trade deficits mean that more money is leaving the country for purchases than is entering the country for purchases. How is that a good thing? Since when? Why did we become a global economic powerhouse when we had no trade deficits?
Since Bush Sr., we have run $12 trillion in trade deficits, and, in the first decade in this century, we lost 55,000 factories and 6,000,000 manufacturing jobs.
QUESTION: Aren't liberal Democrats the ones who mostly want high tariffs nowadays?
ANSWER: Protective tariffs were a bedrock, core principle of the Republican Party for decades, starting with Abraham Lincoln. In our polarized political climate, if one party advocates A, the other party will automatically reject it and advocate B. Some Republicans still support the original Republican trade policy of protectionism, which is economic nationalism and putting American jobs and workers first. Those Democrats who support high tariffs happen to be right and are supporting a policy that the GOP supported for decades.
Growth in U.S.-China Trade Deficit Between 2001 and 2015 Cost 3.4 Million Jobs
Protectionism Didn't Cause the Great Depression
Tariffs: The Smoot-Hawley Fairy Tale
Strengthening Case for Tariffs, Trade Deficit Soars to Nine Year High | Breitbart
Unmade in America
Overcapacity in Steel: China’s Role in a Global Problem
Patrick J. Buchanan: Why Is the GOP Terrified of Tariffs? | VDARE - premier news outlet for patriotic immigration reform
U.S. Steel Issues Statement on Presidential Tariffs on Imported Washing Machines, Solar Panels | United States Steel Corporation
Free Trade vs. the Republican Party
https://enforcement.trade.gov/steel/license/documents/execsumm.pdf
NAFTA Is 20 Years Old – Here Are 20 Facts That Show How It Is Destroying The Economy
Obama’s Bold Economic Move on Chinese Tire Imports is Paying Off
Research
FACT: This is the line being peddled by nations that have had high tariffs and trade restrictions for years. Why wasn't it a "trade war" when those nations enacted high tariffs? Why is it only a "trade war" when we dare to even talk about doing what many other nations have been doing for years?
MYTH: High tariffs cause job losses and hurt economic growth.
FACT: Why haven't we seen this in China? How did America become an economic powerhouse during the decades when we had high tariffs and other trade restrictions? History has shown that protective tariffs give you a net gain in jobs and economic growth.
MYTH: High tariffs mean higher prices for consumers.
FACT: The price increases that do occur are usually minimal and are a small price to pay for the documented, proven benefits of protective tariffs: job growth, investment, and expansion. Furthermore, when people are able to get better jobs, the increase in their buying power far exceeds whatever price increases have occurred.
MYTH: Tariffs are government meddling in the free market.
FACT: Tell me how an American factory in Ohio is supposed to be able to compete with a Third World factory or a South American factory that can pay its workers dirt wages with few if any benefits and that faces few if any regulatory costs?
Tariffs are not not "government meddling"; they are the government performing a function that every Republican from Abraham Lincoln to Warren G. Harding saw as an essential role of government.
MYTH: Bush tried tariffs in 2002 and they failed, so he cancelled them.
FACT: The Bush tariffs were riddled with exemptions, some 700 of them, so they were bound to have little overall positive effect. Look how the U.S. tire industry rebounded after President Obama wisely imposed stiff tariffs on Chinese tire imports. Look how American jobs were preserved and how the American motorcycle industry was saved after President Reagan imposed high tariffs on Japanese motorcycles.
MYTH: The Hoover tariffs (the Smoot-Hawley Tariff) turned a recession into the Great Depression and caused a trade war.
FACT: This timeworn myth has been debunked numerous times. Globalists and many misguided free traders claim that the Smoot-Hawley Tariff, passed in 1930, continue to peddle this myth. But this claim is erroneous. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff raised tariff rates by only 2.5 percentage points, and the economy was already starting to slow down by the time the tariff was passed anyway. Furthermore, the Fordney-McCumber Tariff of 1922 raised tariff rates by a much larger amount, and that tariff was followed by six years of robust economic growth. And virtually no nations retaliated to the Smoot-Hawley Tariff (partly because they knew they were using protectionist policies as well).
MYTH: Trade deficits are not bad, since we are a nation of consumers.
FACT: This is a novel argument. Trade deficits mean that more money is leaving the country for purchases than is entering the country for purchases. How is that a good thing? Since when? Why did we become a global economic powerhouse when we had no trade deficits?
Since Bush Sr., we have run $12 trillion in trade deficits, and, in the first decade in this century, we lost 55,000 factories and 6,000,000 manufacturing jobs.
QUESTION: Aren't liberal Democrats the ones who mostly want high tariffs nowadays?
ANSWER: Protective tariffs were a bedrock, core principle of the Republican Party for decades, starting with Abraham Lincoln. In our polarized political climate, if one party advocates A, the other party will automatically reject it and advocate B. Some Republicans still support the original Republican trade policy of protectionism, which is economic nationalism and putting American jobs and workers first. Those Democrats who support high tariffs happen to be right and are supporting a policy that the GOP supported for decades.
Growth in U.S.-China Trade Deficit Between 2001 and 2015 Cost 3.4 Million Jobs
Protectionism Didn't Cause the Great Depression
Tariffs: The Smoot-Hawley Fairy Tale
Strengthening Case for Tariffs, Trade Deficit Soars to Nine Year High | Breitbart
Unmade in America
Overcapacity in Steel: China’s Role in a Global Problem
Patrick J. Buchanan: Why Is the GOP Terrified of Tariffs? | VDARE - premier news outlet for patriotic immigration reform
U.S. Steel Issues Statement on Presidential Tariffs on Imported Washing Machines, Solar Panels | United States Steel Corporation
Free Trade vs. the Republican Party
https://enforcement.trade.gov/steel/license/documents/execsumm.pdf
NAFTA Is 20 Years Old – Here Are 20 Facts That Show How It Is Destroying The Economy
Obama’s Bold Economic Move on Chinese Tire Imports is Paying Off
Research
