Tariffs: Costly Control - Arkansas Steel Products Industry

In the article "The Economic Effect of Tariffs" we saw how tariffs hurt both the country that has tariffs imposed on it as well as the country who imposes the tariffs. In "The Logic of Collective Action" we saw how small well-organized groups can have policies inacted which help them but hurt the country as a whole. The article "The Softwood Lumber Dispute" showed one such industry where this was happening. A recent article examines another industry with high tariffs: the U.S. steel industry.

Kevin Freking's article "Tariffs: Costly Control" in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette is a must read for anyone interested in international trade. Along with looking at the steel industry, it examines the softwood lumber dispute, and the catfish industry. There are some great quotes in there, such as this one from trade lawyer Lewis Leibowitz:

"Every time you [enact a tariff], you hurt somebody in this country. That’s because it’s not them against us. It’s us against us."

If only more people understood that, I think we'd have a lot less government policies that undermine economic growth. I highly recommend this article, particularly for students doing research for a term paper on tariffs or on trade issues.