On Sun, Nov 24, 2024 at 07:26 PM, Charlie wrote: > > Is this quotation from Engels supposed to be a damning condemnation of > tariffs today?
Certainly not for developing economies. As both Marx & Engels were well aware, countries like the US had used tariffs to spur industrialization. And as I recall from my past readings of Marx on Ireland, part of his rationale for supporting Irish independence, was that presumably an independent Ireland would be able to create trade barriers so that Irish markets would not be flooded with cheap manufactures from England, which had the effect of stiffling industralization in Ireland. And in fact countries like Germany (after becoming unified) and Japan (following the Meiji Restoration) likewise used tariffs to promote industralization. And in today's world, tariffs can still be a useful tool for developing countries. But that still leaves open the question of what role do tariffs have in countries with mature economies. The fact is, Engels expressed skepticism concerning the utility of preserving tariffs in the US of the 1880s, while conceding that they had played a useful role before that time. But your raising the question as to whether tariffs have a useful role to play in defending workers' standard of living in the US of the 2020s. Well, in Trump's first administration, he did introduce tariffs against Chinese imports, and those tariffs were largely kept in place by Biden. Trump has been promising more tariffs against China plus tariffs against imports in general. I think that certain kinds of targeted tariffs are defensible but tariffs against imports in general might be more probelmatic. To reiterate the quote that I had provided before from Engels: > > Protection is at best an endless screw, and you never know when you have > done with it. By protecting one industry, you directly or indirectly hurt > all others, and have therefore to protect them too. By so doing you again > damage the industry that you first protected, and have to compensate it; > but this compensation reacts, as before, on all other trades, and entitles > them to redress, and so on ad infinitum. America, in this respect, offers > us a striking example of the best way to kill an important industry by > protectionism. In 1856, the total imports and exports by sea of the United > State amounted to $641,604,850. Of this amount, 75.2 per cent were carried > in American, and only 24.8 per cent in foreign vessels. British ocean > steamers were already then encroaching upon American sailing vessels; yet, > in 1860, of a total seagoing trade of $762,288,550, American vessels still > carried 66.5 per cent. > > I would expect that if Trump succeeds in going through with all of his tariff proposals then we can expect the sort of thing that Engels had described. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#33727): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/33727 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/109762258/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
