One of the most persistent myths about international trade is that American manufacturing workers can’t compete with foreign workers who are paid much less. That pessimistic view seemed to be confirmed earlier this year, when Carrier announced plans to move 2,100 jobs from Indianapolis to Mexico. Every time a U.S. manufacturing facility closes, it’s headline news.
But here’s the part of the story many people never hear. Although Indiana is losing 2,100 jobs to Mexico, over 100,000 Hoosiers who work in manufacturing are employed by foreign-owned companies. Toyota is adding 300 jobs to its Princeton plant, Honda is adding 100 new jobs in Greensburg, and Subaru is adding 1,200 new jobs to its facility in Lafayette. While Carrier has been called “greedy” for moving to Mexico, no one in Indiana is calling Toyota, Honda, or Subaru greedy for choosing to invest in the United States.....To Read More
Which is more important to you: Protecting American industries and jobs by limiting imports from other countries, or allowing free trade so you can buy products at low prices no matter what country they come from?As we noted at the time, this question is misleading for many reasons. For example, limiting imports does not protect American industries and jobs—it simply protects some industries at the expense of others. To see how Americans really feel about free trade and protectionism, recent research conducted under Heritage’s American Perceptions Initiative posed the following question:*
- Allowing free trade so companies can buy the inputs they need at a lower cost, low-income families can buy clothing at more affordable prices, and the economy can create new jobs.
- Allowing Congress to protect some politically connected industries from low-priced imports.
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