Re:Apple Mobile Processors Are Now Made in America. By TSMC
by johnmaguire on Wednesday September 18, 2024 @04:37PM
(#41585165)
> And in the context of massive trade deficits, so what?
I was thinking more in the context of consumer inflation. Countries tend to go back and forth in a tariff war, effectively raising taxes and lowering incomes for their citizens.
Re:Apple Mobile Processors Are Now Made in America. By TSMC
by tivert on Thursday September 19, 2024 @02:33AM
(#41589169)
>> And in the context of massive trade deficits, so what?
> I was thinking more in the context of consumer inflation. Countries tend to go back and forth in a tariff war, effectively raising taxes and lowering incomes for their citizens.
That's monomaniacal focus on short-term "prices to the exclusion of all other considerations." An artificially low subsidized price isn't a good deal, especially when its competing with your local industry.
And in the context of massive trade deficits, so what? IIRC, when the Trump tariffs went into effect, there was a lot written that the Chinese didn't have many levers to pull to respond, because of the US trade deficit. I think they implemented a tariff against soybeans (and some other non-tariff actions), and that was about it.
> To say nothing of who actually pays the cost of tarrifs.[0][1]
Who cares who technically pays, especially when they're correcting for some other market distortion? Focusing on that is a hallmark of libertarian anti-tariff propaganda that's pretty monomaniacally focused on free trade dogma and prices to the exclusion of all other considerations.