Donald Trump's return to the White House could bring about seismic changes to us trade policy, as the republican frontrunner proposed setting up a universal tariff on imports entering the country.
He also proposed a “matching tax” on certain countries that would be equivalent to high tariffs on US products.
While Trump laid out the idea of a universal tariff months earlier, he appeared to get more specific last week.
“I think when companies come in and they dump their products in the united states, they should pay automatically, let's say a 10% tax,” he told Fox News on Thursday. “That money would be used to pay off the debt. It's a massive amount of money.”
He later added, “I do like the 10% for everybody.”
Tariffs are a tax on consumers. They don't get paid by the foreign companies – they get paid by consumers.
It has also been shown that tariffs do not help local industries. They incentivise them to be inefficient by protecting them from competition.
In NZ the wine industry used to compete on price as tariffs meant no one else could sell cheap wine in NZ. The tariffs went, and the wine industry diversified and now is a major export earner for it.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.
3 comments:
Mr Trump, when elected, will become President of the United States of America.
He will do what he thinks is best for the United States of America.
If you disagree go to America, become a Seppo, vote against him.
What would Trump know about international monetary matters, when he can't even keep an accurate set of accounts for his own business ?
C'mon Americans, don't foist Trump on the rest of the world again - the "stable genius" is even more unstable and dissolutioned.
Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling on Friday concludes the nearly century-long history of the Trump Organization in New York in disgrace and ruin. For his financial fraud, Donald Trump must pay $355m in fines. The hundreds of millions that Fred Trump bestowed on his son could not prevent him from steering the family legacy on to the rocks. How exactly do you go bankrupt with Casinos? I wouldn't hold my breath on Trump's capacity to govern anything.
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