We won’t dispute that American manufacturing has experienced some steep declines in certain industries, but what if the President had gone about trying to fix the problem by trying to figure out the reasons why those industries are in decline. In other words, why can foreign competitors produce those goods at a lower price?
Sure, if those overseas producers are illegally undercutting our markets, or are enjoying subsidies that our producers can’t have, the answer could be to impose a tariff to “level the playing field.” But if our competitors are just exploiting their natural advantages, maybe we should be trying to lower our costs of production. Why have we priced ourselves out of so many industries?
Obamacare did not control costs, and if we would develop programs that free up markets instead of mandating and compelling and coercing them, we all would be better off, and our goods would be less expensive.
The simple expedient of tort reform – something that Obamacare refused even to consider – could remove billions of dollars of uncertainty from American production costs, resulting in healthier industries, lower costs, lower prices and more jobs – without lowering our wages and benefits.
There are other steps that could be taken, we are sure, but it will be far better if we address the problem by endeavoring to lower our costs of production than by trying to raise the costs of some competitor’s production. Remember the fable of the North Wind and the Sun, each of whom tried to make a man remove his cloak. The north wind blew as hard as he could, but the man only gripped the cloak tighter; but the sun merely shined, and the man removed his cloak voluntarily. There is a lesson in there for President Trump and for the rest of us, too, on the best way to attain the desired end with the least effort and the least disruption. Tariffs are the north wind, and free markets are the sun.