by Gary North
[LewRockwell.com]
I have found over the years that when I debate with people who
promote tariffs, meaning sales taxes on imported goods that are enforced
by people with badges and guns, they always adopt arguments that apply
only to America's side of the border. They refuse to adopt those very
same arguments for people on the other side of the border.I challenge defenders of tariffs to state their arguments in terms of both of the people who want to trade, not just the American. The ethics and economics of restricted trade surely apply to the person who wants to trade on the other side of the invisible line known as a national border. If the arguments for restricted trade apply to the American economy, then surely they apply to the other nation's economy. Logic and ethics do not change just because we cross an invisible judicial line. I take this position because I want the pro-tariff person to face the implications of his position.
