No. of Recommendations: 38
Canada is getting slapped right now because America thinks that they have been annoyingly taking advantage of the cross-border trade. (And it is not just Trump.)
If "America" is thinking that (and I don't think most of us are), then America is pretty damn dumb. If I need widgets for my business and you can make widgets cheaper than I can make them, then I become richer by buying every single last possible widget I can from you. That's why trade exists.
If I were dumb as dirt and thought I was being "taking advantage of" because I was making money buying cheap widgets, I would impose a tariff so the cost my widgets goes up. My profits would go down, but at least...uh, I dunno what I get out of it. The deep satisfaction of having less money?
The US economy has beat the rest of the industrialized world over the last couple decades is in large part because we buy cheap widgets, not despite of it. The parable of Killing the Golden Goose has been around for about 2,500 years now. I think the lesson is so lasting because it never takes hold. I guess we're gonna learn it again. Good and hard, this time.
Next up, the parable of the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Also directly relates to current events. I'll leave the reasoning behind this as an exercise for the reader.
