- 期刊
- OpenAccess
Trade Gains via Business Market Share: U.S.-Global Posturing with Insight from Previous Manufacturing Battles
摘要
Newly elected U.S. President Donald J. Trump has ushered in a new but debated era of global economic repositioning in which trade policies, particularly those pertaining to manufacturing, may drastically change in the form of new tariffs or renegotiated agreements. This era, which might be termed the Washington- Nationalist Ambivalence, may greatly affect the business environment for managers. At the same time, the world is witnessing a greater divergence of economic policy between developed and emerging nations. In light of this fact, do any of the President's ideas meet the test of economic theory, traditional or modern? This paper combines micro- and macroeconomics with an understanding of business and market share, through several related models. Specifically, it uses concepts from orthodox trade theory, as well as comprehensible evidence from the 1970s-1980s auto and manufacturing battles, to propose an original concept that, under certain circumstances beyond the ＂optimal tariff,＂ tariffs in competitive industries with low import market shares are justified. Managers might appeal these ideas to the Trump administration. In addition, the paper proffers a new measurement called ＂choice purchasing power＂ to reconcile global trade divergences, which future research could validate, while offering a lukewarm hypothesized hope that the new U.S. administration will heed such reasonable policies and turn away from many of the flagrant misnomers made during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.