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FORSYTHOPINION
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Trump on trade:
Better than
Smoot-Hawley?
Donald Trump’s
announcement that he is
imposing tariffs on steel
and aluminum imports
from other countries has
aroused little enthusiasm
and much criticism. It evi
dently prompted the resig
nation of Gary Cohn as
head of his National
Economic Council.
It has also prompted
free trade-minded
Republicans in Congress
to propose repealing
Section 232 of the Trade
Expansion Act of 1962,
which delegates to the
president the power to
adjust trade restrictions
and impose tariffs.
It’s not clear exactly
what trade restrictions
Trump is poised to impose
or whether negotiations
with Mexico and Canada
will end the North
American Free Trade
Agreement. One possibili
ty is that the self-styled -
master of the art of the
- is using steel and alu
minum as leverage to get
Canada to agreg to his
terms on NAFTA.
Trump’s move is widely
depicted as a departure ~
from the free trade poli
cies pursued by every
administration since World
War 11. But a perusal of
Dartmouth economist
Douglas Irwin’s history of
American trade policy,
“Clashing Over
Commerce,” reveals that
his move is not all that dif
ferent from what other
postwar presidents have
done ~<~and that free trad
ght be sorry if
_Cerigress actually were to
repeal Section 232.
Tariffs, it is often said,
have been one of the bases
of American economic
policy since the days of
today’s Broadway musical
hero Alexander Hamilton.
That’s an exaggeration,
were the major revenue
source for the early repub
lic’s pint-size federal gov
ernment.
Irwin’s second major
point is that tariffs haven’t
been changed very often.
A rise in tariffs rankled
Southern cotton producers
in the 1820 s, and South
Carolina’s John C.
Calhoun, the then-vice
president, penned an argu
ment that states could nul
lify federal laws. President
Andrew Jackson sent
troops to the state’s bor
ders, and the state backed
down, at which point
Jackson and Congress
lowered tariffs.
Trade became a partisan
significant tariff changes
happened only when one
party held the presidency,
the Senate and the House
— ararity then as now.
' Democrats lowered rates
~ in 1846; Republicans
raised them in 1862, dur
ing the Civil War,
Democrats lowered them
in 1913; Republicans
raised them in 1922. In
1930, a Republican
Congress took 18 months
— with 527 hours of
Senate debate on some
1,253 amendments — to
pass the notorious Smoot-
Hawley Tariff Act, which
President Herbert Hoover
enacted over a protest
signed by 1,028 econo
mists. .
The Great Depression,
Irwin, wasn’t caused by)
Smoot-Hawley, opened
the way for a changed pol
icy. Franklin Roosevelt’s
I
* bypassed on foreign poli
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MICHAEL BARONE
Columnist i
cy but was given full lee
way in fashioning the
Reciprocal Trade
Agreements Act of 1934.
This gave the president —
in practice, Hull’s State
Department — authority
to negotiate reciprocal tar-,
iff reductions with foreign
countries. Tariffs fell from
30 percent of imports in
1900 to’s percent in 1945
and 1.5 percent recently.
On trade, Hull was one of
the most successful poli
cymakers in American his
tory.
Trade acts in 1962 and
1974 made Hull’s reforms
permanent. Section 232
~also left presidents with
the power to raise tariffs,
which free trader
Republicans are complain
ing about today. Trump is
not the first president to
use this power.
Ronald Reagan, a free
trader from his days as a
Democrat, facing mass
closure of steel and auto
plants, negotiated volun
tary restraint agreements
with the European
Economic Community, as
well as surge controls lim
iting steel imports from
particular countries and
_voluntary export restraints
limiting Japanese auto
exports. George W. Bush
imposed higher duties on
steel imports in 2002.
These measures were
intended to be — and
were — temporary. -
Producers adjusted.
Foreign-based auto com
panies built American
plants, evading domestic
_content requirements and
import limits. American
steel producers eventually
adopted high-productivity
processes developed by
Europeans decades before.
American trade policy
over the past several
decades, as Irwin
describes it, has been one
_ in which Smoot-Hawley
type tariffs are irrelevant
and in which complex,
low-visibility negotiations
between executive branch
agencies and foreign
nations respond to griev
ances of American inter
ests. High-visibility com
“splex free trade agreements
— notably, NAFTA
(1993) and most favored
nation status for China
(2000) — have also —
passed Congress, with
most Republicans in favor
and Democrats increasing
ly opposed.
Trump developed his
views on trade in the
1980 s, when Reagan was
fending off protectionist
pressures with temporary
expedients. It’s unclear
whether Trump really
hopes to re-create the
1970 s steel industry (he
won’t) or whether he’s
seeking leverage in negoti
ations with trading part
ners as other presidents
have.
A dicey process, per
haps, but surely better than
the Smoot-Hawley days,
when Congress voted on
thousands of amendments.
Michael Barone is lms:mor
political analyst for
Washington Examiner, resi
dent fellow at the American
longtime co-author of The
Almanac of American
Politics.
"Can you believe
they want to make
it illegal to use a
cell phone
while driving?"
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High winds remind me of kite days
The strong wind sent the porch
rocker into a nosedive. The dog
barked waking the “man of the
house” from a deep sleep in his
recliner. Jumping to his feet, the
man of the house tripped scaring
the dog and frightening me into
believing a home invasion was in
progress.
The Ides of March, as
Shakespeare called March winds,
took over the home front this
week and it was time to consider
kite flying. I remember times in
years past when the winds of
March meant a trip to Fambro’s
Five and Ten or down to
Jackson’s Dime Store to pick out
a kite suitable for high flying.
After two energetic boys finally
decided on the appropriate kite, -
we would purchase a long ball of
string and then head home to find"
light weight cloth to make color
ful tails to help the kite fly.
As I recall, there was a great
deal of running with the kite
extended above the heads of the
runners. The boy runners quickly
tired and decided mom’s arms
would extend much higher and
she would more than likely be
-able-to get the kites-airborne.——
Needless to say, the enjoyment,
after the endeavor to get the kites
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§ e e e eSI T
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"..Ridiculous!
..Yeah...
I gotta g 0..”
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JULIANNE BOLING :
Columnist
in the air was short lived. The rest
of our time was spent retrieving
them from trees and shrubs and
patching a few holes which soon .
grew tiresome. I could never
understand the dynamics of get
ting our kites in the air when less
mature children nearby were
shouting encouraging words
about their high flyers solely for
our less than perfect attempts.
It is in the moments of remem
bering when I realize just how
much fun I had growing up with
our children. How much they
recall is still questionable even
though they do remember the
spill mom took in the creek while
building a dam, riding perilously
down the driveway on big
wheels, and scaring me half to
death seems to be their favorite
‘recalls. ' ‘
Anytime I ever started a mis
-sion to-rid my-closets-of items—
that belonged to our grown chil
dren, I can tell you right away the
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This is a page of opinion — ours, yours and
others. Signed columns and cartoons are the
opinions of the writers and artists, and they
may not reflect our views.
|
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I have to call
the tow truck.
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Jim Powell for the Forsyth County News
process never took place. Instead
I always found myself caught up
in “remember when” episodes. I
looked at books, school papers,
old tests and report cards and
marveled at how fast time had
passed. - '
I suppose the best advice I
could give to hard working par
ents, and especially moms, is to
be available for times to have fun.
I am certain of this one thing:
Children do not remember how
much laundry you did but they
will remember the fun you had
with them. " .
The bird feeder outside the
study window is swinging back
and forth. Birds are screaming
like they are on a roller coaster
and hanging on for dear life.
Only kidding about the birds but
it sure is windy.
As the wind whips and churns
the rockers and the dog is asleep,
I recalled the kite flying days. I
thoroughly enjoy reliving the
days of growing up with two
wonderful boys. :
Julianne Boling’s column appears
each Sunday in the Forsyth County
News.