Attention Economy


Wednesday, May 22, 2024

The Politics and Economics Behind the U.S. Shift Towards Protectionism

Biden’s China Tariffs Are the End of an Era for Cheap Chinese Goods
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/18/business/biden-china-tariffs.html
Democrats and Republicans once joined forces to engage economically with Beijing, driven by a theory that America would benefit from outsourcing production to countries that could manufacture certain goods more cheaply, in part by paying their workers low wages. Economists knew some American workers would lose their jobs, but they said the economy would gain overall by offering consumers low-cost goods and freeing up companies to invest in higher-value industries where the United States had an innovation advantage.
The parties are now competing to sever those ties.
 
How America exploits “free trade” to secure its hegemony.
https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2024/05/joe-biden-tariffs-nixon-art-trade-war
 
Reaganomics Is on Its Last Legs
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/05/tariffs-free-trade-dead/678417/
Joe Biden’s new tariffs on Chinese goods mark the decisive rejection of an economic orthodoxy that dominated American policy making for nearly half a century.
 
The U.S. Finally Has a Strategy to Compete With China. Will It Work?
https://www.wsj.com/economy/the-u-s-finally-has-a-strategy-to-compete-with-china-will-it-work-ce4ea6cf
 
Tariffs Push Up Costs. But Not Always Inflation
https://www.wsj.com/economy/trade/tariffs-push-up-costs-but-not-always-inflation-fa2e828b
Biden’s decision to raise tariffs on roughly $18 billion of goods from China has revived a long-running debate in economics over who ultimately pays such tariffs.