Why Trade Tariffs Are Back In Vogue - Bloomberg Podcast

[SouthBayDem]

May 17, 2024
There was a time in the not-too-distant past where more free trade was widely considered to be a good thing. Donald Trump, as US President, had a major hand in reviving the use of tools like trade tariffs, but they've continued to be used under Joe Biden too. Bloomberg's Trade Tsar Brendan Murray joins Stephen Carroll to discuss the past, present and future of this key instrument of international trade.

Related article: How Biden’s China Tariffs Could Backfire on Swing-State Workers

[Voltaire2]

1. Yeah globalization was fun while our oligarchs were dominating world trade.

Back when east asia was just a vast cheap labor pool for our commodity production. Now those bastards are producing their own stuff and it is better and cheaper. The commies are out capitalisming us and that is just unacceptable.

So as the 2020s are pretty much echoing the 1920s:

We our going to fix our global trade woes by escalating hostile actions, at first tariffs topped with military bluster, and then viral fascism and military conflicts alongside the trade wars (you are here now) and then most likely a broader more global conflict. The future looks bright!

[peppertree]

2. True. 'Free trade' has become a dirty word because people hear 'deindustrialization'

With all the problems and losses that implies - not least, economic sovereignty (which most elites sniff at, if not oppose outright).

Still, a balanced approach is probably best. A vigorous foreign trade which does not ignore the very asymmetries you mentioned above.