![]() ![]() While protectionists such as William McKinley argued that high tariff walls protected infant industries, allowing them to mature into fully developed manufacturers, they also meant higher production costs and thus higher prices for American consumers. “Of the arguments in favor of protection,” economist Frank Taussig grumbled in The Tariff History of the United States, “none has been more frequently or more sincerely urged than that which is expressed in the phrase ‘protection to the young industries.’” Free Trade vs Protectionism Throughout the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era, American policymakers such as William McKinley continually argued that high tariff walls not only stimulated progress, “dignified and elevated labor,” but also protected infant industries, allowing them to mature into fully developed manufacturers. Like contemporary protectionists such as Donald Trump, they produced narratives of xenophobic binaries between “us” and the racialized “them,” pursuing tariffs that would not only keep American money within national borders, but also keep all things foreign out - both bodies and products. This did not sit well with American manufacturers who believed that Americans should only buy and sell their own products and restrict cheaply made foreign goods. These distant producers could hire laborers for a fraction of the cost that domestic manufactures could, allowing them to produce and sell similar products for a lower price. High tariff walls, it was believed, would protect domestic industry from foreign manufacturers. Those who believed tariffs should produce even more revenue than the government needed to function - creating a surplus - were known as protectionists. Rather, they supported tariffs for revenue only. Since tariffs generated 90 percent of the national income between 17, those who identified as free-traders did not want to completely remove the tariff. ![]() ![]() The debate between free trade and protectionism is one of the most enduring political and economic disputes in American history. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |