Tariffs: Good or Bad?

I’ll begin by calling tariffs part of a broader issue called “trade restrictions”, which encompass protectionism, import duties, sanctions, flow of labor across borders, citizenship, and even wars. How did tariffs begin, and how effective or damaging have they been? Be prepared for this unsatisfying answer…it depends!

Alexander Hamilton and Daniel Raymond began many of our Nation’s tariff policies. Were they launched in the “Room Where it Happens?”. British Economists Adam Smith and David Ricardo favored Free Market policies.

Tariff (Trade Restriction) Premise: Restrictions to trade are all around us, and begin early in life. You might say that when your solar panel or caviar is harder to obtain, church, service club, or Country is of mostly one race, and you’re not allowed to sit at the “cool kids’” table in the cafeteria, you may be faced with “trade restrictions”. Are you paying a monetary penalty for this restriction? Yes, in a way. Here I’ll accept that it is the privilege of a Nation, country club, or church (or the cool kids) to restrict membership, but that it is in their long-term interests to broaden membership, so as to be economically viable. Yet if they’re threatened (by a war, Jihadist, or bully, for example), they have every right to tighten filters. Nations generally lift restrictions upon compliance, taxation, economic growth (our basic tariff, Citizenship, taxation concept), while non-adherence employs Sanctions and National Defense.

Short History of Tariffs: Tariffs are as old as the hills. Ancient Greece taxed foreign grain to raise revenue. Ancient Rome taxed goods…