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Notes -
Sure! I think I actually believe this argument to some extent as well.
Redistributive taxes and tariffs both reduce societal wealth and also reduce inequality.
But redistribution poisons the well of social discourse and creates a class of “useless” people who rely on the government for payouts. The share of Americans receiving some sort of welfare payment has never been higher.
Furthermore free trade results in the hollowing out of many industries, resulting in permanent societal skill loss, depopulation and brain drain from affected regions, and dependence on China.
And the downsides of tariffs from a US perspective are overrated. Other countries may eat much of the cost because the US has by far the most lucrative export market. We have huge trade deficits so a trade war will hurt other countries more than us.
To achieve our goal of maximum growth with the least inequality and other negative effects, it would make sense to reduce redistributive taxes and increase tariffs.
This is a good response and I'll add one more thing. Tariffs reduce the amount of stuff being produced because it costs more to produce it. If the price of raw materials doubles people are more thoughtful about what they produce. A lot of what gets produced just ends up in a landfill after x years. Maybe it is good for the planet if the world produces less trinkets that ultimately end up in the trash.
Aren't a huge percentage of greenhouse gases due to shipping? If you make more things closer to where they're meant to end up, there's likely an environmentalist appeal somewhere there as well.
The entire transport sector is 20% of CO2 emissions. But ocean shipping is only around 3%. Ships are incredibly efficient.
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No, I don't think so. International shipping is very efficient. IIRC, it uses less carbon to ship something from Shanghai to NYC then it does from Chicago to NYC.
Perhaps you were thinking of the "pollution from one container ship = 1 million cars" meme that went around a few years ago. That was referring to sulphur emissions which are not a greenhouse gas and actually reduce global temperature.
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