Comment by hardbass
1 day ago
Whatever you are calling "free market doctrine" is a physical law. Why would a business owner subject themselves to shitty conditions if they could find workers in better places? Some would of course, but not most or all.
They won't - they'll act purely in their self or shareholder's interest.
If the government wants companies to act in a way that benefits the country and its people, then they need to pass laws to make that happen, for example by things like H1B quotas, or by tax penalties that make the desired behavior the most profitable.
Why do you think protectionism works in benefit of the country's people? Ask Brazilians what they think of tariffs and protectionism. Ask for instance how many of them fly to the USA to buy electronics.
I think you need to take tariffs case by case and ask if this an industry worth protecting - do you need to have it domestically, or are you ok to rely on imports? Maybe you want to protect high margin industries supporting good jobs, and are willing to rely on imports for things like clothing, food, electronic assembly. OTOH some things should have strategic importance - so then maybe you want to make sure you (the country) are if possible self-sufficient for things like defense, semiconductor manufacture, etc.
People, just like companies, are most likely to act in their own self-interest rather than in the interest of society as a whole. Sure, you'd like to be able to buy everything as cheap as possible, which in a high cost of living (which translates into high cost of manufacture) country like the US would mean relying mostly on tariff-free imports, and the death of the entire industrial base. Is that really what's best for the country?