Should the U.S. resort to protectionist policies to save American jobs Explain your reasoning - Essay Example

There are several ways this is carried out, the most popular one is the imposition of tariffs and import duties on all imports making them automatically expensive hence leveling the field especially when the imports are coming from countries where production cost are considerably lower such as China. Many American manufactures have been suffering because of unfair competition as resulting from the many imports leading to low productivity of local products. Furthermore, many firms have moved their abroad to take advantage of the low labor costs and labor-intensive production techniques.

During the great depression, the Smoot-Halway tariff was designed to protect American farmers from agricultural imports from Europe. This did not work out very well though since the other countries retaliated and this had negative impacts on international trade (Amadeo). Nonetheless, economies are rarely purely free trade or restricted and they use a combination of the two. This essay will discuss the importance of protectionist policies in the United States by considering the advantages of having the government protecting the local industries from foreign competition.

One of the main advantages of having protectionist policies is it protects domestic jobs, protectionist trade tactics such as high tariffs and taxes on imported goods are designed to protect American industries and jobs. Simply put, assuming the government was to increase the taxes on the goods coming in from foreign countries, this would drive the cost of these goods up, subsequently, reducing the demand for the products and consumers will ultimately look to local products for better deals.

This way, American companies will have a better edge, and as such can compete more effectively, as such if they make more money; they are more likely to remain in business (MattD). Protectionist policies play a crucial role in ensuring that the job security of domestic