The car example is a great one to highlight how we kill our own industries. Australia has some of the lowest import Tariffs in the world for things like cars- which would seem like a good thing, except it becomes so much cheaper to import than build locally. Which means local builders become non exsistent, and we are forced to import, and imperters can then charge whatever they choose.
If tariffs were increased significantly, we would initially pay more for imported gear, until companies started to produce the gear locally again, at a competitive price. Our desire to have cheaper imports is our undoing in the long run. |