Source: The Daily Economy
by Donald J Boudreaux
“A familiar excuse for protective tariffs and other trade restrictions goes like this: It would be all well and good for our government to follow a policy of free trade if other governments did the same. But other governments don’t do the same. Other governments use tariffs and subsidies to give producers in their countries unfair advantages over producers in our country. Unless and until other governments embrace complete free trade, our government must ‘retaliate’ with its own protective measures to counter the protective measures imposed by foreign governments. Every competent undergraduate who has passed a well-taught course in Econ 101 can identify a significant problem that lurks in this excuse for protectionism — namely, protective tariffs and subsidies are a net cost to the people of any country whose government intervenes in these ways.” (01/06/25)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/the-problem-with-retaliatory-protectionism/