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The grave error of widespread protectionism.
There is no doubt that the United States has been experiencing for decades the problem of an overwhelming trade deficit with almost all countries in the world, especially with China. It is a disastrous reality that has been getting worse year after year and reveals the covert policy of those countries that have abused tariffs, subsidies, and low wages to make US goods less competitive. Eventually, they managed to dismantle entire industries whose entrepreneurs had gone bankrupt or fled to countries that unilaterally promoted their competitive advantages against this country.
Intending to partially remedy this problem, the tax reduction for many of these industries that was applied during the previous administration of President Trump, achieved the return of many of these producers to resume their activities in the United States. It was a successful measure that should continue to be promoted in the current administration.
On the contrary, the measure promised during the campaign and now in the process of being implemented, which would impose 10% tariffs on the import of all products from those countries that have enjoyed abusive trade advantages for so long, is a serious mistake that will not only foment a disastrous trade war but, far from alleviating the tax burden suffered by the inhabitants of this country, actually represents a deceptive 10% tax on both consumers of manufactured products and producers and entrepreneurs who import from those countries the raw materials essential for the production of their products.
President Trump has boasted that countries that abuse our indifferent trade policy will thus be paying a tax that can be subtracted from the tax burden on the inhabitants of the country. One wonders if any economist could have advised him to make such a blunder. If so, he is an impostor economist.
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