re: #212 Guanxi88

Yep, the free-trade ideal out to raise global wages, which I suppose it does, albeit unreliably and not nearly fast enough. How the hell can you compete against people who earn a fraction of what you need to stay alive?

… and who work in places where labor and environmental protections are nonexistent.

Imo, a global “free market” only makes sense if the playing field is level. We need to level the playing field, via tariffs. I think it should be done on the corporate level rather than the national level, since it is conceivable that two factories in China, for example, could have vastly differing labor conditions.

Just off the top of my head, perhaps tariff companies that don’t get some kind of certification, renewed yearly, that proves that they adhere to American labor laws and environmental regulations, as a minimum, regardless of location. Sounds complicated, but I think it could be done. (Violating those standards would result in a loss of certification, and imposition of tariffs.)