If the import is being subsidised below its true cost (dumping, as the US has accused others of before, over steel and aluminium and now they seem to be going after EVs) then one goal of the tariff is to create a level playing field. So local manufacturers can stay in the game or catch up rather than be wiped out by ‘unfair’ competition, possibly from state subsidised firms. That’s of course discounting the idea that the manufacturer you’re trying to protect isn’t just a bit rubbish.
The second is that the revenues from the tariffs can be used to cut taxes, or be spent by government on infrastructure that boost growth and so on.
But as you say, if the public switches to the less efficient domestic supplier once tariffs come in they might just end up paying more for a worse product and the government gets no extra revenue.
It does though deprive the ‘dumping’ state of export revenues and that might be reason enough in some eyes.
Whilst the US may be the biggest country we trade with, it’s still roughly only 50% of our trade with the EU, why would we let them pull us away from our biggest trading partner ? oh yes coz we voted for it
You’re absolutely and, on top of that, a trade deal with the US would drive down standards of food quality, farming practices, animal welfare and environmental, whereas trade standards in the EU would push our standards up.
I, for one, look forward to the rank hypocrisy of people who howl and whine on behalf of the farming community over this IHT thing - which is on my tits - who then campaign for a trade deal with the US which sees every farm in the UK go out of business in a week…
Although it’s a very dull silver lining that I’m now less concerned about what Trump’s going to do and more concerned about what the cretins he’s put into positions of authority are going to do.
I think this time round it was the main worry. It’s ‘The Presidency’ that effects things. More so than just ‘The President’.
Sounds like Musk has been involved in many conversations between Trump and foreign leaders, for example. I personally find that pretty uncomfortable. The worlds richest man is that involved.
You’ve then got Hegseth as Def Sec, someone who doesn’t thing germs a real, and doesn’t think women should be in front line combat roles.
His pick for Homeland Security Sec is most famous for her anti-mask rhetoric during Covid.
There’s also the strong potential for his Health Sec pick to be someone who is an outright anti-vaxer.
It’s madness. This isn’t lunatics running the asylum. This is lunatics escaping, kidnaping the government, and declaring the other asylums as the new state departments.
I’m close to the Big 50 and it does feel like the next few years will have the highest global risk in my life. Even after the collapse of the USSR, Gulf War 1, 9/11, ISIS and various financial crashes there was stability in Western alliances and no existential threat like climate change.
Now we’ve got a weak, Russian stooge moving into the White House and too many climate sceptics and deniers in power across the world. The Middle East is seeing genocide and ethnic cleansing, while the West watches on, which moves the region closer to another Arab-Isreal war. China will be watching events and considering their military options for Taiwan, especially as the US becomes more isolationist.
