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I’m among the proponents of a unilateral trade policy described within Wikipedia’s “Import Certificates” article. I believe Due to many reasons I believe that species of Import Certificates would be superior to tariffs as USA’s general policy for international trade of goods.
I’m not a supporter of president Trump but I would not be displeased if USA imposed a 20% tariff upon all goods imported from Mexico. I would hope that it would induce discussion and consideration for our trade deficit’s net detrimental effects upon our economy.
I am not sue people really understand, it will not be a wall, but an expansion of the existing fence. The "wall" is figurative not literal. It will not run the entire length of the border, that would be plain stupid.
However rather than tariffs on things coming in, I would like to see a tax on money leaving the country. This woudl apply to companies importing things or buying foreign parts, migrant workers shipping their earnings to another country (frequently untaxed), everything. It would not need to be a huge tax because of the volume. It would take a while to get enforcement figured out and in place, but it can be done.
This woudl accomplish a few things:
1. Discourage corporations from shifting money to other countries to avoid taxes.
2. Discourage foreign workers from coming here to make money to send back to some other country. they are welcome to come here, make money, enjoy it here, but if they want to ship it back to another country, it should get taxed.
3. Impost the equivalent of a tariff on imports, but it would be minimal because it woudl be dlited by the tax on mone leaving the country for other reasons.
4. Somewhat encourage our people/companies to invest here instead of in foreign companies or projects. It would not prevent investment outside the US, just make it a little bit more appealing to invest here instead.
5. Avoid a trade war.
Initially most of the proceeds would have to be spent on tracking/enforcement and Donald's wall (fence). However, after the initial investment the proceeds can go to other things.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2002 Subaru
No, we'll just buy U.S. goods which will be less expensive.
Next time you go to the grocery store, look at the tags on some of the produce. Even in California they cannot grow some (or enough) vegetables all year. Avocados are the biggest one, but also tomatoes, and even sugar is imported from Mexico, not to mention tequila and beer. I suppose those items are not critical, and we can manage to pay more and use less, but eventually alternatives may be found, and the tariff revenue could dry up.
Our trade balance with Mexico is about 10% tilted to deficit. Our balance with China is about 60% deficit. With Europe it is 20% deficit. Mexico is one of our biggest importers of US goods. Imposing a 20% tariff on Mexico is not going to fix our huge imbalance with China or with Europe. On the other hand it is likely to affect our exports to them as they will no doubt retaliate. It is an ill-thought out idea.
Last edited by toosie; 01-27-2017 at 04:57 PM..
Reason: Deleted partisan comment that started the slide later in the thread
No, we'll just buy U.S. goods which will be less expensive.
That defies economics. The whole reason an import business came to exist was because the goods in question were cheaper to import than to be produced in the US.
Next time you go to the grocery store, look at the tags on some of the produce. Even in California they cannot grow some (or enough) vegetables all year. Avocados are the biggest one, but also tomatoes, and even sugar is imported from Mexico, not to mention tequila and beer. I suppose those items are not critical, and we can manage to pay more and use less, but eventually alternatives may be found, and the tariff revenue could dry up.
We can grow enough of many foods here in the US, it is just cheaper or more practical to import them. Some things though simply do not grow or are not grown here in sufficient quantity and will always require imports. Coffee, Bananas, Cocoa, maybe marijuana. Other things are preferred from other countries, for no real reason at all. For example - eqyptian cotton is not better and we produce plenty of equal quality cotton here. California makes just as good of wines as France. Cuban Cigars. However, we seem to think we need products form toher countries to get real quality.
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