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This is the third in a series of articles outlining in detail my stances on what I consider to be the important issues of the day. This entry will deal with interparty and intercitizen relations, general civic discourse and how divergent opinions actually makes us stronger.


From my platform:

"3. I desire to promote trade liberalization between consenting nations in a thoughtful and tested manner. I do not believe in unilateral policy, that is, our trade liberalization should be matched by that of like-minded trading partners."


There has been serious, lengthy discussions in the eUS forums about import taxation. I am not opposed to lowering import taxes but believe that immediately dropping all of the import duties to 1% (the lowest possible) is unwise and hasty. Trade liberalization is something to be used as a foreign policy objective – that is, it is a handy tool to encourage foreign nations to drop their tariffs in conjunction with ours in order to form a trading bloc of sorts.

It's important to note that many of the largest exporters to the US are actually foreign companies that are owned by US citizens. Reducing import duties makes these companies more competitive in the marketplace and globally, reducing the cost of imported raw materials. Reduced cost of imported raw materials in turn makes our manufacturing companies more profitable and, by extension, raises wages and puts downward pressure on the cost of manufactured goods. So all in all moving towards reduced import taxation is a Good Thing™.

But such movement shouldn't be done overnight. Drastic changes to the tax structure, especially in the realm of import and export duties place undue stress on US companies. Congress' goal should be to introduce changes incrementally in order to prevent wild swings in the price of raw materials. Companies expect to have predictable costs in order to plan wages and profit margins and introducing variability in costs can be extremely painful to companies operating on thin margins.

I am in favor of lowering import duties but only in conjunction with our allies and like-minded trading partners. I am not in favor of unilateral "open borders" with regards to import taxation.