Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Article Example The approved measured was very controversial because it went against the principles of free trade. The U.S historically has prided itself in being a country in favor of free trade. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the tire tariff on Chinese imports and to determine the impact of this policy. The U.S. government and President Obama promised the American people that they would protect the country against the threat the Chinese economy poses. I agree with the President’s decision to impose a tariff on Chinese tire imports. The reason that I believe this was the right decision is because the tire industry in the U.S. had reached a point in which it needed governmental intervention to salvage a dying industry. Between 2005 and 2009 the U.S tire industry lost 5,000 jobs. The tire industry is a byproduct of the automobile industry. The U.S. has always prided itself in the accomplishments of the Big 3 automakers. The policy to protect the U.S tire industry by imposing a tariff seems like a logical move because Chinese imports were cannibalizing the U.S. market. During the last five years Chinese imports of tires had tripled in volume. The new tariff on Chinese tire imports benefits the U.S tire manufactures that have operations in the United States territory. ... This new policy should help ignite job creation in the U.S. tire industry. Another stakeholder group that benefits from the policy is low price tire manufactures outside of China. The group that is hurt the most by this policy is Chinese tire manufactures. Another stakeholder group that is potentially hurt by this policy is the consumers of tires because they will not able to purchase Chinese imported tires at rock bottom prices anymore. The decision to impose a tariff on Chinese tires was a difficult one because the U.S. typically does not believe in the use of protectionism. Protectionism can be defined as the government’s placing of tariffs or quotas on imports to protect domestic industries from global competition2. If the government were to impose tariffs of all goods imported into the United States then the U.S. would be in complete violation of the WTO and it would not be promoting free trade. Another negative consequence of imposing tariffs on all goods imported is tha t it would raise the prices of all consumer goods which would lead to inflation and higher cost of living for the American people. If tariffs were imposed on all items coming into Broward County my life would be very different because I probably would have to get a second job just to pay for my living expenses. The prices of consumer goods would skyrocket at Broward County. Governments often have to make tough decisions that may have political and economical backlash. President Obama made the right choice to impose a tariff on Chinese tire imports because China was cannibalizing the market by flooding it with millions of cheap tires. The excess amount of cheap tires in the marketplace was hurting this industry as American companies could not make a profit due to the