U.S. moves to double Canadian lumber tariffs
woodworkingnetwork.comWhy did anyone ever think it was a good idea to let the federal government regulate international trade? (Not rhetoric, I'm actually curious because I am ignorant of the history and it seems like such a colossal and obvious bad move.)
Because countries had been regulating international trade since time immemorial. I don't think a moment's thought was given to not regulating trade.
Or do you mean, why have the federal government do it rather than 13 separate states? Mostly because having 13 separate states proved to be a huge headache. They did try it, with the Articles of Confederation. I mean, can you imagine having to apply tariffs and regulations at every single border?
There was nonetheless a huge debate over just how much power should belong to the federal government vs the individual states, and a lot of that ultimately led to the Civil War (which didn't really answer the questions, to be honest). But there wasn't really much argument over the utility of federal trade regulations. There was just too much benefit from interstate commerce to reinstate tariff borders at each state.
Originally, the US federal government was funded with tariffs.
Good, now maybe I'll be able to build with wood again here in Canada. Was getting to the point it was just cheaper to use steel.