TOS Blog: Daily Commentary from an Objectivist Perspective

U.S. Should Dump Anti-"Dumping" Laws

Irvine, CA—U.S. steel producers are calling for the federal government to extend until 2011 the duties imposed on foreign steel.

“The U.S. government should lift these duties as soon as possible, once and for all,” said Dr. Yaron Brook, executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute. “Duties on steel harm all American businesses that use steel in their products and all American consumers of products that contain steel. They violate the right of Americans to engage in free trade with efficient, productive foreign steel producers.

“As for so-called dumping of foreign goods, if foreign producers (or governments) are willing to subsidize their own losses to sell us products below their production costs, we should be free to take advantage of such bargains.”

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Posted in: Business and Economics, Foreign Policy and War, Individual Rights and Law

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