Re:The U.S. Is Lagging Behind Many Rich Countries. These Cha...
by YetAnotherMatt on Thursday July 02, 2020 @03:32PM
(#23717060)
>Europe has high import tariffs
The EU has a weighted import tariff of 1.79% vs 1.66% in the US. For comparison, China is at 3.83% and Japan at 2.51%. Canada, New Zealand and Australia are all lower than the US, at 1.52%, 1.18%, and 1.27% respectively.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tariff_ra...
This is mostly 2017 data, which means the recent US-China tariff war could very well have resulted in the US having a higher weighted import tariff than the EU by now.
Re:The U.S. Is Lagging Behind Many Rich Countries. These Cha...
by koheripbal on Thursday July 02, 2020 @04:13PM
(#23717496)
Kudos for looking up real data - but it's hard to say how much of these numbers are for manufacturing.
Re:The U.S. Is Lagging Behind Many Rich Countries. These Cha...
by jeffbee on Thursday July 02, 2020 @03:46PM
(#23717217)
Europe does not protect its export manufacturing industries with tariffs, it protects them with housing policy. They build abundant housing, keeping prices low, which keeps wages low. Industrial workers in Europe are not highly paid, but they enjoy low costs of living.
In my opinion, the decline in worker unions has been largely due to the relocation of factories abroad.
A nation without its own manufacturing based and non-existant import protections will of course lose union jobs.
Europe has high import tariffs that protect their own agriculture and manufacturing base (as well as raise the cost of goods). ...but that's the trade off.
Blaming some sort of corporate culture seems agenda-driven speculation.