Trade Fueled Inequality. Can Trump's Tariffs Reduce It?

New York Times

13 hours ago

During the three-decade heyday of globalization, goods and money ping-ponged their way to every corner of the world, generating stupendous amounts of wealth, trade and technological innovation.
At the same time, the wealthiest countries experienced startling rises in inequality at home. In the United States, where the gap between the rich and everyone else is among the highest in the world, some of those hit hardest were working people without college degrees.
Now, free trade believers are swimming against the tide. President Trump has raised tariffs to their highest levels in nearly a century. The president doesn't talk much about inequality. But his animating argument for tariffs — that they will pressure companies to bring well-paid manufacturing jobs back to America — is pitched to those workers who felt left behind and neglected.
So, will the tariffs reduce inequality?
Probably not, and here's why.
Hyper globalization certainly contributed to America's rising inequality. Consumers saved hundreds of dollars on the cost of televisions, shoes and comforters. But many middle-class livelihoods and communities were destroyed when factories either relocated to countries where wages were lower or went bust because they couldn't compete with cheap imports.
China's entry into the global marketplace at the beginning of this century delivered a major wallop. Between 1999 and 2011, Chinese imports were directly responsible for the loss of 2.4 million American jobs, according to researchers. It is true that more jobs were created, but many of them did not pay as well as those that were eliminated, nor were they taken by the workers who lost out.
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