“Arguing otherwise is just silly, and needs to be denigrated as such.” This comes across as discouraging comments, but since I like arguing and can denigrate back, I will bite anyway.
You say free trade is good. No issue there. But not all free trade is fair. And fair trade is just as good as free trade. Unfair free trade is harmful.
Example, using eggs since I eat them daily. Say a foreign country subsidizes its egg exports. Tax rebates, shipping subsidies, energy bill discounts, etc. That country wants to dominate the egg market. Their strategy: dumping cheap, but still good enough quality product into a given market. Their goal: to put that market’s egg producers out of business.
Once this is done, egg prices creep back to normal levels, then above normal. Domestic egg production is gone. A foreign country controls the egg market it went after.
Free trade? Yes. Fair trade? No. End result? No domestic egg jobs and high egg prices, both of which one should avoid.
Thank you for the comment. My remark that “Arguing otherwise is just silly, and needs to be denigrated as such.” refers to the idea that free trade is good on net, just like vaccines. There are exceptions to the rule. There are a few (very few) cases were protectionism is justified, just like there are individuals who absolutely should not be vaccinated. But as a generality, it's silly to argue free trade is bad.
As to your specific example, I'm going to write a post soon covering the fair trade argument, and why I think it's wrong. I'll look forward to seeing whether or not I convince you.
Maybe some tariffs are misused. However, ideally their purpose would be not to discourage free trade. Instead, it would be to counteract predatory trade tactics. I'd go further and state that tariffs do not have to be antonymous to free trade - when used correctly, they merely protect free trade from abusers.
“Arguing otherwise is just silly, and needs to be denigrated as such.” This comes across as discouraging comments, but since I like arguing and can denigrate back, I will bite anyway.
You say free trade is good. No issue there. But not all free trade is fair. And fair trade is just as good as free trade. Unfair free trade is harmful.
Example, using eggs since I eat them daily. Say a foreign country subsidizes its egg exports. Tax rebates, shipping subsidies, energy bill discounts, etc. That country wants to dominate the egg market. Their strategy: dumping cheap, but still good enough quality product into a given market. Their goal: to put that market’s egg producers out of business.
Once this is done, egg prices creep back to normal levels, then above normal. Domestic egg production is gone. A foreign country controls the egg market it went after.
Free trade? Yes. Fair trade? No. End result? No domestic egg jobs and high egg prices, both of which one should avoid.
Thank you for the comment. My remark that “Arguing otherwise is just silly, and needs to be denigrated as such.” refers to the idea that free trade is good on net, just like vaccines. There are exceptions to the rule. There are a few (very few) cases were protectionism is justified, just like there are individuals who absolutely should not be vaccinated. But as a generality, it's silly to argue free trade is bad.
As to your specific example, I'm going to write a post soon covering the fair trade argument, and why I think it's wrong. I'll look forward to seeing whether or not I convince you.
Maybe some tariffs are misused. However, ideally their purpose would be not to discourage free trade. Instead, it would be to counteract predatory trade tactics. I'd go further and state that tariffs do not have to be antonymous to free trade - when used correctly, they merely protect free trade from abusers.
My response post is live:
https://www.econsoapbox.com/p/free-trade-vs-fair-trade
Would love to know what you think.