As his limo carried him to work at the White House Monday, Larry Kudlow could not have been pleased with the headline in The Washington Post: "Kudlow Contradicts Trump on Tariffs."
The story began: "National Economic Council Director Lawrence Kudlow acknowledged Sunday that American consumers end up paying for the administration's tariffs on Chinese imports, contradicting President Trump's repeated inaccurate claim that the Chinese foot the bill."
A free trade evangelical, Kudlow had conceded on Fox News that consumers pay the tariffs on products made abroad that they purchase here in the U.S. Yet that is by no means the whole story.
A tariff may be described as a sales or consumption tax the consumer pays, but tariffs are also a discretionary and an optional tax.
If you choose not to purchase Chinese goods and instead buy comparable goods made in other nations or the USA, then you do not pay the tariff.
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A tariff is a tax. This will be paid for by lower and middle income consumers. So much for the supposed tax decrease. Watch the shiny object pawns
ReplyDelete11:36
ReplyDeleteMost times it is an avoidable tax. Don't buy something "Made in China". Buy American.
Trump keeps saying that because of the tariffs the China has payed us billions. That's false. China, hasn't payed a penny. Just as the article says a tariff is a tax that is put on goods coming in to America, payed as product is imported by the importer, then the cost is passed on to the buyers.
ReplyDeleteSo it's Americans who are paying it. This also hurts American Retailers in lost sales dollars.
Open trade is better for all involved in the long run. It's simple economics.
Open trade is fine as long as I trade you something you feel is of equal value. But in China's case it would be like me trading you a garden hose for 36hrs labor in my yard. That is not equal. China has sold us so many cheap products and they in no way are purchasing an equal amount from us, cheap or otherwise.
Delete1214
ReplyDeleteEconomics is not simple.
It is the study of the supply and demand upon production
Globalism is not economics - it is the absence of economics
It destroys the relationship between production and consumption
By the way, WHO is "us"?
Do YOU and I receive any of the tariff?
No
Try to make statements using the English language
Let product QUALITY compete for it's self. If shopping were not the National Pastime and people did not shop blindly for all this cheap crap that lands up in landfills demand, production and comsumption could truly be considered economics but in it's present hyper consumerist state there is no way to forecast or bridle it.
ReplyDeleteIf the United States is preventing China from unfair tariffs then it's time to stop it. Don't worry. Everything China has exported to U.S. the Vietnamese etc will pick up the slack.
ReplyDeleteMay 15, 2019 at 12:53 PM
ReplyDeleteWhat English are you speaking, because that's exactly what was posted... clearly you have a hard time with comprehension.
Americans and American businesses don't get the tariff money. We pay it. The cost of the tariff "tax" is forwarded to the end user. Understanding English, you should understand that means Americans PAYING, not Americans RECEIVING the tariff money. The Government is getting that in tariff tax. Most English speaking people would have understood that, but I guess you're thick.
To make it easy: Basic, Simple, Economics on Trade:
Free trade increases access to higher-quality, lower-priced goods. Cheaper imports, particularly from countries such as China and Mexico, have eased inflationary pressure in the United States. Prices are held down by more than 2 percent for every 1 percent share in the market by imports from low-income countries like China, which leaves more income for Americans to spend on other products.
Free trade means more growth. At least half of US imports are not consumer goods; they are inputs for US-based producers, according to economists from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Freeing trade reduces imported-input costs, thus reducing businesses’ production costs and promoting economic growth.
Free trade improves efficiency and innovation. Over time, free trade works with other market processes to shift workers and resources to more productive uses, allowing more efficient industries to thrive. The results are higher wages, investment in such things as infrastructure, and a more dynamic economy that continues to create new jobs and opportunities.
Free trade drives competitiveness. Free trade does require American businesses and workers to adapt to the shifting demands of the worldwide marketplace. But these adjustments are critical to remaining competitive, and competition is what fuels long-term growth.
Free trade promotes fairness. When everyone follows the same rules-based system, there is less opportunity for cronyism, or the ability of participating nations to skew trade advantages toward favored parties. In the absence of such a system, bigger and better-connected industries can more easily acquire unfair advantages, such as tax and regulatory loopholes, which shield them from competition.
Spare me Democrats. A tariff is a tax. The Democrats complain about raising tariffs because it's going to cost consumers more money. Well what do you think an increase in taxes going to do to Americans? So now all we hear is the mainstream media harping about tariffs and how much more it's going to cost the American Consumer. But sure go ahead and raise taxes which causes more pocketbook pain for the consumers
ReplyDeleteFree trade could only exist in a free society.
ReplyDeleteIf you think you are free, then something is amiss.
The elites control every single aspect of our lives.
Totalitarian Government.
You don't even have the freedom to AVOID vaccines.
Tell that to the farmers in the midwest. Guess what your taxes are being used for....farm welfare. Farmers are taking record billions in assistance because their farms are being killed by the tariffs you claim don't affect them.
ReplyDeleteMAGA supporters lack the capacity to see anything not directly in front of them.
12:53 supply and demand is a very basic root understanding of a modern economy. All industries curve output to keep prices inflated (oil for example). Supply and demand is something they teach you in 101 and is not how the world works unfortunately.
7:00 is correct
ReplyDeleteSad