Competition From Foreign Producers On American Consumers

Competition from foreign producers affects American consumers in a number of ways. They affect the way we, as Americans, pay taxes, the way we trade with other countries and the limitations of that trade. These trade barriers protect us in order to keep specific industries of the United States safe and to protect parts of our economy. Trade barriers include tariffs, quotas, and subsidies and are a part of our economy because they are necessary for the success of our country. There has been a dual view of trade since the time of the ancient Greeks. The two sides of these philosophers views are the recognition of the benefits of international exchange, but that there is concern that certain domestic industries would be harmed by foreign†¦show more content†¦The policies that were developed in Western Europe took different forms. For example, domestically, governments would provide capital to new industries, exempt new industries from rules and taxes, establish monopolies over local and colonial markets, and grant titles and pensions to successful producers (LaHaye, n.d.). Then, the government would assist local industry by imposing tariffs, quotas, and prohibitions on imports of goods that competed with local manufacturers (LaHaye, n.d.). A tariff is a tax on imports, while a quota is a legal restriction on the amount of a good coming into the country (Guell, p. 204). The economic strength of the United States provided the stability that permitted the world to leave behind the chaos of war and grow into a new, more prosperous era (LaHaye, n.d.). This is when The Marshall Plan comes into play. The Marshall Plan, also known as the European Recovery Program, channeled over $13 billion to finance the economic recovery of Europe between 1948 and 1951 (Foner Garraty, 2009). The Marshall Plan successfully sparked economic recovery, meeting its objective of ‘restoring the confidence of the European people in the economic future of their own countries and of Europe as a whole.’ (Foner Garraty, 2009). This coincided with the United States goals to rebuild devastated war regions, to remove trade barriers, to