The Krugman Tariff

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2010/03/the-krugman-tariff

The New York Times's Nobel laureate economist, Paul Krugman, proposes that America threaten to impose a 25% tariff on goods imported from China. As a general rule it's a bad idea to make threats you can't follow through on, and a 25% tax on imports would do enormous harm, both to the American consumers who would have to pay it and to America's relations with our trading partners in the rest of the world. What a way to slam the brakes on an economic recovery. Regular readers know we aren't big fans of the Chinese Communist government, but there must be some way to press China that doesn't require imposing a punitive tax that would come out of the pockets of Americans.

There, I managed to write the entire item without invoking Hawley or Smoot.

by Ira Stoll  |  Mar 15, 2010 at 10:37 am Related Topics:  China, Paul Krugman, Press, Taxes receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list