Read the Wall Street Journal opinion article titled “The High Cost of the Trump-Biden Tariffs” before answering the following questions: The article will be linked.
- What does Analyst Oren Crass mean by “people’s ability to produce matters more than how much they can consume”? Discuss the extent to which you agree or degree with this stament.
- According to Dr. Irwin of Dartmouth, why do protectionist polices harm U.S. production?
- With respect to the Trump administration’s steel and aluminium tariffs, why were so many manufacturing jobs lost?
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According to the article’s authors, what is the primary reason driving the U.S. government to pursue protectionist policies today? Do you agree with their opinion or do you think there are other reasons for U.S. protectionism?
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Tariffs: Taxes imposed on imported or exported goods, used for protecting domestic industries, generating revenue, and as a political tool in trade negotiations and wars.
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Specific Tariffs: A fixed fee based on the physical units (like per kilogram or item) of an imported product, impacting protection levels inversely with price changes.
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Ad Valorem Tariffs: A percentage of the value of the imported goods, offering a consistent degree of protection but potentially complex in valuation.
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Compound Tariffs: Combining specific and ad valorem features, applied to manufactured products with raw materials also subject to tariffs.
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Effective Tariff Rates: Measures the actual protective effect of a tariff structure on domestic producers by considering tariffs on both final products and inputs.
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Tariff Escalation: The practice of increasing tariffs with the level of processing, protecting domestic producers by keeping input costs low but potentially harming consumers and discouraging value-added exports from developing countries.
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Consumer Surplus: The difference between what consumers are willing to pay for a good or service versus what they actually pay, illustrating the welfare benefits of international trade.
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Producer Surplus: The difference between what producers are willing to sell a good for and the actual price they receive, highlighting the benefits to domestic industries from tariffs.
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Deadweight Loss: The loss of economic efficiency when the equilibrium outcome is not achievable or not achieved, often due to tariffs or other market distortions.
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Small-Nation Model: A model assuming the country cannot influence international prices, illustrating the impacts of tariffs on domestic production, consumption, government revenue, and overall welfare.
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Large-Nation Model: Contrasts with the small-nation model by assuming the country’s demand can influence world prices, showing potential welfare gains from tariffs through improved terms of trade but also the risk of retaliatory tariffs.
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Optimal Tariff Rate: The tariff rate that maximizes national welfare by balancing the gains from improved terms of trade against losses from protective and consumption effects.
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Terms of Trade (TOT): The ratio of an index of a country’s export prices to an index of its import prices, used to measure the relative prices of a country’s export and import goods.
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Trade Wars: Economic conflicts resulting from extreme protectionist policies, where countries impose tariffs or other barriers on each other to protect domestic industries, often leading to retaliatory measures.
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Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act: A historical example of protectionist trade policy that significantly raised U.S. tariffs on many imported goods, contributing to the severity of the Great Depression, illustrating the potential negative impacts of high tariffs.