A Case for Tariffs

Started by Travis Retriever, September 14, 2010, 03:01:17 PM

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Here's a little something from my History professor, that I couldn't came up with a refutation for.

He says that tariffs are best used in countries with fledgling industries e.g. countries just starting their own industrial revolutions.
He states that because of the high start up costs of the new capital, those fledgling industries have to charge more to make up the initial cost than the more developed nations.  The tariffs allow them to do that.  Whereas if they aren't, said developed nations can flood the market with cheaper goods and the nation's industry never gets off the ground.

What's the logical rebuttal to this argument?
I feel like it's simple, but I"m not getting it.

He used Continental Europe's Industrial Revolution as an example of this working, for those wondering.
"When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No. You move.'"
-Captain America, Amazing Spider-Man 537

One-name rebuttal: Herbert Dow.