Here’s a letter to new correspondent:
Mr. B__:
Thanks for your e-mail.
You accuse me and other advocates of free trade of “weakening the US militarily only to grab more of the fool’s gold of cheaper stuff at Target or Amazon.”
Hmmm.
If it’s true, as you seem to imply, that the only benefit of free trade for Americans is lower prices on consumer goods sold at retail, then it must also be true that we Americans import only consumer goods for sale at retail outlets, and inputs used to produce such goods. In your view, therefore, almost nothing that Americans import has military significance or contributes to increased American production of militarily significant materiel. It follows that the higher tariffs that you desire would bring about in America an increase only in the production of consumer goods, and of inputs used to make consumer goods.
If your beliefs about the consequences of the current state of Americans’ international trade are correct, higher tariffs would do little to nothing to increase America’s access to military materiel. For higher tariffs to begin to have any hope of significantly enhancing America’s military might, it must be the case that, absent those tariffs, American imports do more than simply lower the prices of goods sold to consumers at retail.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
