This Trumpian neomercantilism is ridiculous!

Protectionism never helped anyone. Particularly among the developed nations. I have yet to encounter a case of a rich country becoming even richer after imposing tariffs and trade restrictions. Even when looking at firm-level data over the long run, protectionism never helped. In many cases it arguably made them even less efficient (I provide a real-life example below). The notion that tariffs (taxes on imports) and quotas (limits on import quantities) are in general bad for the economy that imposes them could even be called a stylized fact of the profession. And it is one of those rare ‘facts’ a vast majority of economists would agree with; even those who like to emphasize that free trade has both winners and losers, and even those who cite the successes of South Korea or China in using state protectionism of infant industries to gain a competitive advantage abroad (although there are a lot more factors explaining their success – plus I have yet to see a good piece of research defending this argument). 

Let me emphasize just how ridiculous this argument is. Saying that imports are bad and exports are good is like saying that selling is good (cause we get money when we sell something) while buying is bad (cause we lose money when we buy something). Far from it! Both transactions are good, because when you buy/import you do it either to resell it at a higher price or consume it. If the transaction is voluntary it is by definition beneficial, both for the seller and the buyer, regardless if the seller/buyer is a foreigner. 

Also, governments, i.e. countries do not import nor export. Companies do. They sell (export) and buy (import) on the international market. In fact, the determinant of the demand for imports comes directly from the consumers themselves. Or companies buying intermediary products that are cheaper abroad. If we as customers have a greater benefit from consuming foreign rather than domestic goods, then there will be a company that will offer them to us. It will import foreign goods knowing someone back home will buy them. We as consumers therefore determine the demand for imported goods. Whether it’s clothes or food, that almost any country can produce on its own, or cars and IT goods that most countries cannot.

How the import tariff affects US consumers

So how does all this link to the new US President? Well, it’s got to do with the most recent set of ideas on trade policy coming from the experts in the Trump administration (btw, should we trust these experts over all the others? I guess we should, they do work for the President, right?).

Take for instance their idea for imposing a tariff of 20% on all imports coming from Mexico. Guess who will pay the ultimate price of that 20% tariff? Yes, you’ve guessed it – US consumers! How? Let me explain it in very simple, Trumpian terms.

I am a distribution company (let’s call me ‘the Middleman’) which sells electric equipment (let’s call it ‘Stuff’) all across the US. I don’t make them myself, I just sell them. So when I buy the Stuff I want to sell, my main motivation for purchase will be a good (i.e. low) price. I buy most of the Stuff from Mexico, from a firm called Mexico Stuff Manufacturer (MSM) and then sell it to local shops across the country. MSM gives me a good quality product and at a lower cost than if I were to buy domestically.

Now the tariff is implemented at 20% on all imports from Mexico. If I want to buy the Stuff from MSM again I have to pay 20% more. That’s not very good news for me given that this would eat up almost my entire profit margin. In other words if I buy the Stuff at a higher price I have to increase my selling price to the shops to stay in business.