redbloodedamerica:

awesomeness2:

redbloodedamerica:

Protectionism: Europe vs. America

Donald Trump used to say that he wanted high tariffs on the E.U. to stop cheap goods.  Now he says he wants it to punish Europe for its even higher tariffs.  “We charge zero and they charge 10, 25…even 100 percent!”  

But that’s dead wrong, Donald.

The particular pattern of tariffs varies between countries according to local preferences and special interests.  So yes, the E.U. has higher tariffs on cars, but the U.S. has higher tariffs on trucks.  The E.U. has higher tariffs on many agricultural goods, but the U.S. has higher tariffs on shoes and textiles.  So it’s more important to look at averages, and they are remarkably similar.  The average E.U. tariff level is just 0.6 percentage points higher than the U.S.  And if you count the actual tariffs paid, E.U. exporters to the U.S. pay 0.2 points more than American exporters.  

Now, these averages hide some crazy tariff spikes on particular goods, but those exist on both sides of the Atlantic.  We also have non-tariff barriers, like the E.U.’s de facto ban on genetically modified crops, but the U.S. blocks foreign ships from domestic trade routes and forces all federal projects to “buy American.”  

So yes, the E.U. is too protectionist, and the U.S. is too protectionist.  And then rule #1: Don’t do even more harm than you already do. 

going to disagree with this.

In what way?