There is an on-going argument over tariffs. Many Americans and other countries are frightened by Trump’s tariff actions. Much of the concerns are very legitimate. Trump is pushing other countries to confront whether to embrace free trade or not.
Unfortunately, there are organizations still engaged in pointless idealism. One such organization is the Tax Foundation which just posted this on X.
Their take is basically from a text book, absent of real world realities. They could respond with explaining the reactions to tariffs being raised makes things worse or how tariffs have limited impact in a digital economy. However, the largest problem with rising tariffs is trade wars leading to real wars. Yet, Tax Foundation is immune to making such arguments. But why?
Much of the problem centers on how Americans have been taught about the US Civil War, more accurately called the War between the States.
Many scholars and people will say this war was over slavery. They will point to secession documents mentioning slavery. Yet, why did these seceeding states think slavery was threatened? Nothing in the Republican Party platform of 1860 posed any threat to where slavery existed. Alexander Stephens, Jefferson Davis and Sam Houston all rejected secession as did the majority of slave states.
The reason much of the Deep South thought slavery was threatened was because the Republican Party favored a protective tariff in 1860. This stance is what broadened support for the Republian Party in the northern States while souring it in the southern States.
The Nullification Crisis had happened in 1830s and resulted in keeping tariffs low, so the southern States were upset with the change pushed by the Republican Party to raise tariffs. But why slavery? Slavery had morphed into serfdom. This meant the servants were not tied to a specific master as much as they were more tied to the land they worked. This is because these serfs were being used to harvest cash crops meant for export. Cotton was king of these exports to England. Make no mistake about it. South Carolina caused the Nullification Crisis and pushed for secession, both for the same reason.
Tariffs have a negative impact on trade. Take the cotton to England, but what goods do you bring back? You don’t want to spend money on an empty travelling ship. You want to ship goods from England to the USA but now such items incur a higher tariff made possible by the Republican Party.
President Lincoln in his First Inaugural address made very clear, paying the duties of these tariffs was the only way to avoid war, and the southern States had already rejected such payments. War was the result and the southern States were invaded by northern States.
This is the real problem of tariffs, but the children at the Tax Foundation do not understand.
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"President Lincoln in his First Inaugural address made very clear, paying the duties of these tariffs was the only way to avoid war, and the southern States had already rejected such payments. War was the result and the southern States were invaded by northern States."
War with who? The British? The South?
I'm not saying that tariffs weren't a contributing reason behind the Civil War--it would also make a certain kind of sense given the ensuing Union blockade of the Confederacy... but...
It was Confederate soldiers at Ft. Sumter, South Carolina who fired the first shots in the Civil War. Maybe there still would have been a civil war no matter what, but--they really did take the whole disagreement to another level.
Also, FWIW: Americans are already suffering financially because of other countries placing tariffs on many imported goods from the U.S. In many cases, those tariffs are incredibly high. I've had conversations with friends and acquaintances about this in Canada. Canadian tariffs on certain U.S. exports to Canada are the stuff of legends.
Also, there are hidden tariffs, like the super cheap shipping costs for snail mail from China and other Asian countries to the U.S. and the sadly so-NOT-reciprocal and extremely expensive snail mail shipping costs going the other way.
Those shipping costs for Chinese mail allow small Chinese wholesalers to undercut large swaths of the U.S. domestic market for manufactured goods. For instance, we used to have a fairly robust domestic crafting industry selling jewelry and other small items.
Now, not only are the American crafters struggling because Chinese wholesalers gained access to American-based platforms like Amazon and Etzy and flooded them with super-cheap junk, but they also cut the legs out from under those crafters making specialized jewelry. There's even an company showing up at craft fairs that imports all of its merchandise direct from China. How can American jewelry-makers compete when their customers can buy surgical steel* earrings for under $5, and a full set of surgical steel jewelry (earrings, necklace, bracelet, etc) for around $15?
*Surgical steel is high quality and supposed to be hypo-allergenic, and it's accordingly more expensive.