AFP: Trump Administration Right to Lift Steel and Aluminum Tariffs

May 17, 2019 by AFP

Grassroots group urges the White House to drop all tariffs and trade barriers

ARLINGTON, Va. – As the Trump administration announced plans to lift tariffs on industrial metals from Mexico and Canada, Americans for Prosperity called the move a good first step but urged the White House to go further, calling for the removal of all tariffs and trade barriers.

AFP Senior Policy Fellow Alison Acosta Winters issued the following statement:

“This is a good first step toward removing a punishing tax on American producers and consumers. Tariffs on steel and aluminum were never justified in the first place. The administration is right to lift them, and we urge them to go further – drop all the tariffs and work to lower trade barriers instead. However, we are concerned about the possibility of substituting additional managed trade requirements for the steel and aluminum tariffs. The devil is in the details, which we have yet to see.”

Trade principles

The United States should eliminate all trade barriers, regardless of other countries’ trade policies, in order to provide Americans lower prices, more jobs and bigger paychecks, and to drive innovation through competition.
Individuals and businesses in a competitive market, not government bureaucrats or politicians, should guide trade decisions.
Punitive measures such as tariffs and quotas are an unjust government intrusion into the lives of hardworking Americans. They violate the property and associational rights of individuals and should all be eliminated.
Subsidies and other forms of government supports for powerful and politically connected businesses and industries do not create value. They punish consumers, burden taxpayers, insulate businesses from market competition, and should be eliminated.
Trade disputes should be resolved through existing international trade agreements and organizations.
While national security interests may be a consideration in trade policy, they should be used to restrict trade only when there is truly a narrow national security interest at stake, not as a workaround to impose tariffs.

For further information or to set up an interview, please send an email to GCipriano@afphq.org.

Through broad-based grassroots outreach, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is driving long-term solutions to the country’s biggest problems. AFP activists engage friends and neighbors on key issues and encourage them to take an active role in building a culture of mutual benefit, where people succeed by helping one another. AFP recruits and unites activists in 35 states behind a common goal of advancing policies that will help people improve their lives. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

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