Word: tariff
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Reagan hikes a tariff...
...imposing the tariff, Reagan was following the recommendation of the U.S. International Trade Commission. In January, the I.T.C. agreed with Harley that the company needed temporary relief from the big wheels of Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Honda. Since 1978, H-D has lost more than a third of the big-bike market (engines of more than 700-cc displacement) to the Japanese. According to Harley-Davidson Chairman Vaughn L. Beals, 1982 sales of about $200 million were down 20% from the preceding year. One reason for the Japanese success is pricing: Harley's top-of-the-line touring model...
...anticipation of Nakasone's visit to the U.S., his government also unveiled a package of trade-liberalizing measures, the third in 13 months. It included tariff cuts on such items as tobacco products, chocolate and biscuits. The measures will do little to shrink Japan's huge (estimated $17.5 billion for 1982) trade surplus with the U.S., but Nakasone has promised a review of such nontariff barriers as complex customs requirements and byzantine distribution systems...
...that got lost in the rush of last month's lame-duck session of Congress was President Reagan's much heralded Caribbean Basin Initiative. Originally proposed in February 1982, the CBI offered $350 million in short-term cash aid and a variety of long-term trade and tariff benefits for the struggling ministates of Central America and the Caribbean. Approved by the House and the Senate Finance Committee, the plan must be presented anew to the 98th Congress, although the short-term aid money has already been disbursed...
What is wrong with protectionism? Americans for much of their history kept themselves snugly wrapped in protectionist laws. The famous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 set up the highest general tariff rate structure that the U.S. had ever had. One nation after another retaliated. The tariffs helped deepen the Great Depression worldwide and thus at least indirectly brought on World War II. Protectionists say that was an extreme case. No one wants to go back to Smoot-Hawley. Protectionists today want subtler, more modulated laws...