TinDrum1d ago

Free trade, competition and small govt

'Legislative history reveals the Act was the outcome of powerful legislators protecting their shipping interests at the expense of three colonized territories denied a vote in the Congress that passed it. At a moment when tariffs have returned to the center of American political debate, revisiting the Act’s history reminds us that some tariffs never left'

#politicalEconomy #usPol #freeTrade

https://lpeproject.org/blog/a-century-of-colonial-tariffs/

A Century of Colonial Tariffs

Waived overnight in response to a crisis for capital but maintained in the face of protest from former and current territories, the Jones Act has a colonial logic that is impossible to ignore.

LPE Project
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'costs are not equally borne. Contiguous states largely substitute maritime transport with rail or truck. Meanwhile, Hawai’i, Alaska, and Puerto Rico—separated from the mainland by oceans or foreign countries—remain captive buyers of Jones-Act fleets. They subsidize the American merchant marine and, as a result, suffer some of the country’s highest food costs and rates of food insecurity'
Apr 3 at 6:06amWeb