On Sun, Jan 26, 2025 at 12:51 PM, David Walters wrote: > > some of the original Trump tariffs on, say, something like aluminum > imports, mostly from Canada, actually have worked. They didn't > significantly increase costs and more domestic aluminum manufacturing > investment increased.
Worked? Really? We are dealing with a long term reduction in capacity due to declining profitability. From almost 4 million metric tons in 1999 to less than 800,000 tons in 2023. The 232 tariffs are still in effect and the decline in capacity is expected to continue and with primary production capacity falling below 700,000 tons. In 2024, only 4 US based production facilities are currently in operation. So I don't think they worked. It makes no sense to talk about tariffs without the profitability trend in the "advanced" countries, and the general overproduction for which China is being blamed, being carefully examined. China is not the source of overproduction in aluminum, microprocessors, or concrete. The laws of capitalist accumulation are. Tariffs are part of the growing difficulties in profitable production and are part of the inability of trade to provide adequate returns. World trade is expected to show a decrease in 2024. There is no point to accommodating the bourgeoisie's trade policy whether it be expansive or reactive, -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#34853): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/34853 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/110809626/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
