Why Trump's import tariffs do not help anyone
Why even tariffs?
Donald Trump, President of the United States of America has proclaimed his intention to establish import tariffs on certain goods, such as aluminum and steel. His explanation as for the cause of these tariffs was "to preserve national security" and because the USA has been treated "unfairly" by countries such as Germany or China.
While the former seems to be questionable, the latter argument has some merit to it. The European Union, which Germany is a part of, has itself quite high import tariffs, in some cases much higher than those of the United States. For private cars, for example, the tariff for importing into the US is 2.5% , while the EU charges 10% . This is a massive disadvantage for the american car industry, one which could have been negated, had negotiations about TTIP not broken down. As it currently stands, however, the US is right in demanding better, or rather equal, conditions.
These tariffs are not the solution
The decision by Trump to put tariffs on these specific goods are not helpful to the US. First of all, a big portion of aluminum and steel imports by the US come from Canada and Mexico, while the EU plays a rather low role in these industries. If Trump is trying to get better conditions for american exports, this is at most an attempt to intimidate the EU. The biggest problem of these tariffs is their impact on americans. While it would make sense in regards to american companies to tax certain consumer goods such as cars or electronic devices that are made by corporations which are in competition with american counterparts, this is not the case for ressources such as those affected. The tariffs will only lead to a decrease in supply and therefore a price hike within america for which american corporations and therefore the consumers will have to pay. Meanwhile, outside of America, the price will drop, which helps out the industries dependent on them, but not in America. Other countries will therefore not be hurt by the tariffs nearly as much as americans. The only ones who profit are American steel and aluminum manufacturers, who will struggle to meet demand and increase prices as well as ramp up production ( benefiting american workers in these industries ). How long Trump will keep the tariffs up is, however, a very big factor in determining how much american workers profit, because if its just a short while, prices will bounce back down and may drop even lower than before due to increased overall supply worldwide. Additionally, while they are in effect, prices of consumer products will increase.
The possibility of a trade war
Judging from Trump's recent rhetoric as well as that of the EU, there is a possibility of a trade war breaking out between the two. The EU would be hurt quite a bit, seeing how the countries in the EU, especially seeing as to how countries like germany, about which Trump has been complaining for a long time now, export a high amount of their goods to america. The problem with a trade war lies in the fact that no one would profit and the economy of all states involved would suffer greatly due to the sheer amount of trade happening between them.
In an ideal scenario, the differences in import tariffs between america and the other states can be compensated, ideally more towards the lower tariffs, and a trade war be avoided. The full consequences of an all-out trade war, as unlikely as one would be are can not easily, if at all, be grasped.
This statement in your post "First of all, a big portion of aluminum and steel imports by the US come from Canada and Mexico" is not backed up by facts. Mexico buys a lot of raw materials from China and converts them into products to sell in the U.S. I agree that tariffs are not good for a free market society. Sadly the world is not a free market and thus the imposition of tariffs are necessary to level the playing field. In the case of China they use slave labor practices and taxes from the people in china to support businesses in china thus unfairly providing a advantage over investors and producers of products goods and services all over the world. Want slavery ended in the world and therefor anything that makes slavery harder is a good thing if you ask me.
Two things: First of all, my information on Mexico and Canada is mainly based on canada exporting a large portion of their exports and america's imports of aluminum ( https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/02/trumps-steel-aluminum-tariffs-may-rattle-canadas-economy-and-nafta.html ), including Mexico in that specific sentence was a bit careless since I am not sure about the statistics there.
Second: Low wage work in China, which I agree is comparable to slavery to a certain degree, is a big problem, which I might write another text about, but there is in my opinion a bit more nuance to it. I believe that for the workers in chinese factories, while they might get treated very badly and do not earn very much, the alternative to their jobs would be even worse, because they would not have any income at all. The problem for industrial nations like the US then lies in the fact that their factory jobs get outsourced, but as can be seen in countries like Germany, I think these disadvantages can be overcome due to them already having an technological advanteg ( to which China is trying to catch up ). I simply don't think import tariffs are a good way to solve the problems of globalization, though I am unsure, how they can be solved exactly.
I think I have found another difference in our opinions here: "I simply don't think import tariffs are a good way to solve the problems of globalization" Globalization is the problem. With the different cultures all around the world comes different traditions, different religions and therefore different laws. The truth is the whole idea to me sounds like trying to fit a square peg in a round whole and the truth is we are dealing with people. The application of force with people is the definition of violence and criminal behavior. I can't support that? This doesn't mean that I cannot support your post. It doesn't mean I won't up vote your post when you clearly are attempting to provide value. It does mean however that many of my comments won't exactly be a support for globalization. If you object to this I will respect your wishes and mute you so as not to bother you. Let me know what your decision is.
I don't mind us having different opinions on globalization. Rather than that I like to have discussions about these kinds of topics with people who disagree with me while at the same time not being insulting. Only talking with people I am on the same page with would not be very helpful.
The cultural aspect of globalization is somewhat different from the economic aspect in my opinion. While I believe the latter to be unavoidable and also neccesary for technological advancement, the former is one that can cause many problems, for example the clash of wildly different cultures currently happening in europe due to the refugee crisis. Some cultures have obviously wildly different, and in the case of the Middle East for example, much more outdated beliefs and societal structures.
If you want to continue this discussion let me know, otherwise no hard feelings, I know Ive made some mistakes in my original post like mentioning Mexico, so please forgive me.
I think we can work at it in a way that increases the value of your post which should be both of our goals. Is why I up vote and comment and up vote comments as that is how we increase curation rewards and increase reputation.
Fore instance:
"The cultural aspect of globalization is somewhat different from the economic aspect in my opinion. While I believe the latter to be unavoidable"
Change the subject from globalization to Denverization and the unavoidable conflict comes into a much clearer context. If you personally happened to be the unavoidable conflict we might here an entirely different song. Instead of trying to hide the intent to harm a few to have it your way aspect of Globalization, try to speak freely.
One should be free to speak or write without fear of retribution. As a friend I am saying that your own consciousness is in conflict because you know people will not accept harming of people in the Globalization process. So instead of saying so out right you try to hide it (Freudian slip). You don't have to do that with me and in my opinion this slip shows your consciousness is aware of the conflict.
P.S watch how your reputation sky rockets as you have long conversation in comments on your post. Let me tell you the same will happen to my new steemit account. LOL
Just like Tariffs on automobile imports; instead of having really cheap alternatives to American made products it allows the consumer more likely to pick a product made and built here rather than another country. Such as a Corvette as opposed to a Lamborghini. If that Lamborghini were cheaper well then the chances of actually selling a Corvette would be slim to none and the company would go out of business.
The real problem as I see it is the fact that some country's are using slave labor and then using the entire countries taxes to unfairly support those businesses. They sell raw materials to places like Mexico or Canada. This practice is against international law and slavery is a human rights violation. People who support countries by buying products made in this way are financially supporting the slavery. This is great for the master and a disaster if you are the slave.
The difference to tariffs on automobile imports is that with those, its a consumer product, not one which is essential to different productions and has limited production within the country, therefor reducing competetiveness on an international scale, at least until production within the country ramps up, which might take a while.