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PeakTrader said...

James says: "From 1800 to 1900 tariffs averaged 30 percent. The highest tariffs in the world. During this time Americans had the highest wages in the world and at the same time the lowest prices."

Factors that raised America's living standards, in spite of tariffs, were vast natural resources, technological progress, innovation, etc.

Tariffs in the United States

The tariff was detrimental to the American people, since it acted to raise the price of goods purchased; anything being bought from overseas which now became more expensive than a local product rose in price to that of the local product, and anything bought from overseas which even with its price increase was still cheaper than a local product had to be bought at the new, higher price. This made the mass of people significantly less wealthy in real terms since everything cost more. This tended to cause an increase in wages, as people required more pay to maintain proper renumeration for their skills, which in turn increased the cost of producing local goods, since the cost of labour rose. This in turn acted to make people poorer.

The tariff was in fact detrimental to the American farmers. Not only did the tariff drive up the prices
of farm equipment (since wages and imported components were more expensive), it also failed to halt sliding agricultural prices, possibly since there wasn't much competition with imported goods since American agricultural produce was already cheaper than imports.

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PeakTrader said...

James, a tariff is a tax. When you tax something, whether it's goods or immigration, you get less of it.

Free trade allows limited resources, including labor, to shift from older industries into newer industries, which creates better jobs.

If the U.S. continued to protect farmers, from competition, then most workers would still be farmers.

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