Which of the following are potentially valid arguments for tariffs or export subsidies, and which are not? Explain your answers.
a. “The more oil the United States imports, the higher the price of oil will go in the next world shortage.”
b. “The growing exports of off-season fruit from Chile, which now accounts for 80 percent of the U.S. supply of such produce as winter grapes, are contributing to sharply falling prices of these former luxury goods.”
c. “U.S. farm exports don’t just mean higher incomes for farmers—they mean higher income for everyone who sells goods and services to the U.S. farm sector.”
d. “Semiconductors are the crude oil of technology; if we don’t produce our own chips, the flow of information that is crucial to every industry that uses microelectronics will be impaired.”
e. “The real price of timber has fallen 40 percent, and thousands of timber workers have been forced to look for other jobs.”