My hope is that massive reductions in regulations and taxes will overcome the negative effects of a bit of protectionism.
Yesterday, Fox News reported that the EU charges us a 10% tax to ship cars there, and we charge a 2.5% tax for them to ship cars here.
Which one is stupid?
So can you name any positive effects of protectionism or does it only have a downside?
When international-trade signals to international-currency markets a lowering in value of a currency, that is one thing.
To intentionally want to, and take action to lower the value of your own currency is most usually in error. It is an attempt to game the markets into a value the markets have not determined. If it works, you might get more exports, but you are unlikely to get fewer imports and most likely to get more inflation, as even some lower level of imports will come in at higher-unit costs, in dollars, than before, and those costs will pass on to everyone, even to exporters via domestic inflation. Bad idea.