No stinky cheese for you!
There are many U.S. policies to which I am unabashedly opposed. One of these suites of policies is various trade restrictions that lawmakers and presidents place on foreign imports. Trade restrictions do nothing except help a very small constituent of voters while raising prices for all consumers. And among the worst type of trade restrictions are those placed upon imported food. Well, it just so happens that, a couple days before leaving office (former) President Bush sent a clear message to foreign food producers: I am a major A-hole.
In its final days, the Bush administration imposed a 300 percent duty on Roquefort, in effect closing off the U.S. market. Americans, it declared, will no longer get to taste the creamy concoction that, in its authentic, most glorious form, comes with an odor of wet sheep and veins of blue mold that go perfectly with rye bread and coarse red wine.
Cheese with an odor of wet sheep may not appeal to all U.S. consumers, but there are probably many that would like to continue purchasing this product. The same goes for consumers of French truffles, Irish oatmeal, and Italian sparkling water, all of which were included in the tariff bill. Instead, Bush has made it incredibly costly to purchase these products because he felt he wanted to punish European governments for restrictions they have placed on U.S. beef imports. Wah wah.
Let European countries do whatever they want. Their citizens will just pay more for beef. These new tariffs do nothing but increase the prices of these foods (and their U.S. subsititutes) for U.S. consumers. They also hurt the U.S. food importing industry:
”It’s extremely unfortunate from our point of view,” said Eugene Milosh, executive director of the American Association of Exporters and Importers, a leading trade group. ”It puts people out of business.”
They also lead to further retaliations:
Earlier this year, the European Community released a list of American products that would be considered for counter-retaliation. These included honey, walnuts, hybrid corn seed, beet pulp and dried fruit.
These policies are nonsense. They do nothing more than limit consumer choice and purchasing power while creating ineffiencies in the production of food. Some other countries may have enacted such policies first, but Bush has only caused the problem to worsen. Well done Mr. Former President.
By Matt
Email Matt | All posts by Matt
