David Friedman on Tariffs

A friend forwarded me this explanation of why tariffs are stupid from David Friedman, son of Milton Friedman. It's so smart I wanted to share:

Growing Hondas. There are two ways we can produce automobiles. We can build them in Detroit or we can grow them in Iowa. Everyone knows how we build automobiles. To grow automobiles, we begin by growing the raw material from which they are made--wheat. We put the wheat on ships and send the ships out into the Pacific. They come back with Hondas on them.

From our standpoint, "growing Hondas" is just as much a form of production--using American farm workers instead of American auto workers--as building them. What happens on the other side of the Pacific is irrelevant; the effect would be just the same for us if there really were a gigantic machine sitting somewhere between Hawaii and Japan turning wheat into automobiles.

Tariffs are indeed a way of protecting American workers--from other American workers.