Monday, March 26, 2018

Carlo Lomas - Tariffs on steel and aluminum imports

Despite backlash, Trump is s going to” protect the industries so they can grow”, by placing a twenty-five percent tariff on imported steel and a ten percent tariff on imported aluminum. His fellow Republicans, investors, and companies, both warned that things would not work out. Retaliation against American exports, a decrease in sales, and increase in job losses are some of the things expected to happen with this new decision.
Post WWII, the reciprocal trade agreements lowered the tariff which helped the economy in regards of trade. They increased foreign trade and bettered relations with Latin American (something the United States needs to do with neighboring countries right now). That was a huge landmark for the United States so I think it’s important to learn from what works and what doesn’t.
I think that this wasn’t something he thought through clearly. It seems rash to me since he didn’t listen to many who have complained against it. If he would’ve used his brain, he would see that this isn’t something that could work out for many reasons. Throughout history, a raised tariff has never created positive long terms effects. It’s like Trump wants to give us enemies. I think he needs to look at things in pieces and analyze the effects it could have on many different aspects. He says that this will allow companies to expand and allow them to hire more workers...this sounds like mass production to me and no one will want to make purchases because of the tariffs. We saw how mass production in the twenties hurt the economy. Farmers had been producing so much which lowered the  prices of the product, therefore, decreasing their profits. I would think that’s common sense. Apparently it’s supposed to be a signed deal next week but I hope it doesn’t go through.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/business/wp/2018/03/01/white-house-planning-major-announcement-thursday-on-steel-and-aluminum-imports/

1 comment:

  1. The major conflict is the fact that Trump refuses to acknowledge that when working international business, there needs to be a compromise. Trump continuously believes the our needs shouldn't be compromised and that others will work around us-this isn't a reality that's beneficial.

    ReplyDelete