"To what purpose are powers limited, and to what purpose is that limitation committed to writing,
if these limits may, at any time, be passed by those intended to be restrained?"
-- Chief Justice John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison, 1803

It’s About Time

by Lee

Bush has seen the light.

The Bush administration has decided to repeal most of its 20-month-old tariffs on imported steel to head off a trade war that would have included foreign retaliation against products exported from politically crucial states, administration and industry sources said yesterday.

The officials would not say when President Bush will announce the decision but said it is likely to be this week. The officials said they had to allow for the possibility that he would make some change in the plan, but a source close to the White House said it was “all but set in stone.”

European countries had vowed to respond to the tariffs, which were ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization, by imposing sanctions on up to &dol;2.2 billion in exports from the United States, beginning as soon as Dec. 15. Japan issued a similar threat Wednesday. The sources said Bush’s aides concluded they could not run the risk that the European Union would carry out its threat to impose sanctions on orange juice and other citrus products from Florida, motorcycles, farm machinery, textiles, shoes, and other products.

Bush advisers said they were aware the reversal could produce a backlash against him in several steel-producing states of the Rust Belt—including Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. That arc of states has been hit severely by losses in manufacturing jobs and will be among the most closely contested in his reelection race.

The sources said that Bush’s aides agonized over the options to present to the president and that they considered it one of the diciest political calculations of this term. A source involved in the negotiations said White House aides looked for some step short of a full repeal that would satisfy the European Union but concluded that it was “technically possible but practically impossible.”

I will refer you to my comments from a few months ago.

Honestly, I think Bush could score a lot of points with his core constituence (i.e. people like me) if he got up there and said, “Look. At the time we enacted these tariffs they sounded like a good way to help protect the American steel industry, but things simply haven’t worked out that way. We’ve actually hurt the economy by causing jobs in other areas to be lost, industries that depend on steel. And these tariffs haven’t gone over well with the rest of the world, either. The World Trade Organization has found these tariffs to be in violation of international agreements. So, I’ve decided to rescind the tariffs. When you look at the balance sheet the costs to keeping them in place are greater than the benefits, and keeping them in place simply isn’t good for the country.”

Be sure and check out this post, too.

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