Putting Tariffs on Imported Goods: Good or Bad?

We’ve all heard about President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China. With other nations, there will be reciprocal tariffs. Is this good or bad? If you listen to Trump, you might think it’s good. Sure, Donald Trump has done many good things, but is this one of them? Let’s take a closer look at tariffs and why they are in place.

Tariffs are implemented because either the imported goods undersell what America produces, or the exporting country is not importing an equal amount from the U.S. In other words, there is no balance of trade.

For example, Canada is not buying American cars, among other things. So, Trump has imposed a 25% tariff on them.

We are told that this puts Americans out of jobs and hurts our businesses. But why is this? It’s because goods are cheaper in another country, so many lower-income people have no choice but to buy what is cheaper. Tariffs on imported goods would hurt the poor. If they don’t have the money, they will either have to borrow it or do without. Both cases make it worse for Americans. They would either have to borrow money from the bank, which will make them worse off as they would have to pay interest, or do without other products.

The more people get into debt, the less they can buy—regardless of price and where the product is made. If they can’t pay, they might have to go bankrupt and perhaps lose what collateral they do have.

It comes down to this:

– People will either have to do without because they don’t have enough money.

– They have to pay more because of the tariffs.

– There are no products to buy, and some companies might expand their markets to other countries.

Think of the tariff situation like this:

You have a department store in town called Poland Store and another called America Store. They both have wholesale and retail sections. You have your goods and prices, and America has its store with its wholesale products and prices. You trade between each other. Each department store decides what they want to buy and how much; they know their customers’ needs and buy accordingly.

You might decide to buy less from America Store, and that should be your right. America Store might decide to buy more from Poland Store for their own reasons. In short, why should the government tell other stores what to buy, how much, and at what price? This is called freedom, and some leaders don’t understand that! When countries act like this, it causes hatred and animosity in the world.

We must go back to why America hasn’t produced some of the goods that Trump is complaining about. It seems like he is in the “blame game,” always blaming the other guy. Well, this started way before Trump became president, even in his first term of office. It happened over the years with companies seeing that it’s cheaper to hire and produce their products in other countries. In addition to the cost of labor in America, U.S. companies had more red tape to contend with, such as environmental laws and taxes. They had no choice but to move. After all, you are in business to make money, not lose money.

My suggestion is, instead of blaming others, make the environment in your country business-friendly, such as: fewer taxes, fewer regulations. I’m not suggesting that we lower our wages to meet that of the poorest nation in the world. We should keep our standards high. But we should look into why we have high wages in the first place.

First, they really aren’t that high considering the cost of living. But the answer is not, “Let’s raise wages; let’s raise taxes so we can give out more money to invaders and for all kinds of social benefits.” All this leads to higher and higher prices, and no one is ever satisfied. What we have to do is go back to biblical economics. But that would be another topic that would require a very long article to explain.

In short, we must do things the right way, the way that God wants us to do it—not how man does it! Man’s laws have been a complete failure, and imposing tariffs is not the answer.

When we do it God’s way, there will be no need for tariffs. Tariffs are nothing but a plaster on the sore without getting to the root cause of the problem. When we get to the root cause of the problems, our problems will go away, and everyone would be prosperous, healthy, happy, and safe.

Let us do it God’s way!