Could Similar Tariffs to Trump's Plan Fix an Australian Unemployment Problem?

L[Deactivated] on 08/04/2025 - 15:54

As global trade dynamics shift, the dinner table conversation around tariffs has resurfaced.

What if Australia decided to implement tariffs on imported goods?

Manufacturing jobs have been hollowed out by successive governments, with many regional areas suffering the brunt of the Coalition's policies for advocating free trade. Over the past few decades, many aspects of our society have suffered some devolution with a large number of high paying jobs being shifted to low income countries.

Australia does not manufacture anything meaningful anymore. The jobs created would need to involve more than just assembling of products. Tesla is widely touted as being a car assembler, not a car manufacturer.

One of the side effects of tariffs could include a decrease in income taxes.

What types of jobs do you believe could be re-shored back into Australia? Would you consider working in those industries if they adhered to developed nation safety standards? This is crucial, as many industries are often reported in the media as being undesirable due to lax standards in lower-income countries. Surely, Australia could manufacture lithium batteries better than most countries they are currently being produced in.

Overall safety is improved as a net result. A net benefit to the global economy is created by utilising tariffs. Adam Smith's theories of a benefit to society only seem relevant if you suspend disbelief and do not price in the effect to workers, environment and other external costs. Globalisation has not worked. It has created a culture where people are Ice Cold to others, demeaning them in bad employment situations where they are exploited for a few dollars.

By bringing back jobs to Australia, it goes a long way to remediating this issue. Interest groups focus on sustainable this and sustainable that, but how about starting with locally produced goods?

Can Australia keep affording to run trade deficits with so many countries? Where are the good jobs? Sure, there are service jobs here and there but they are low paying jobs that cannot arguably sustain a family starting from nothing, in that you cannot actually afford a house with a backyard.

Education & Work

Comments

  • jv on 08/04/2025 - 15:55
    +341

    No.

    It will create even more inflation.
    Who do you think pays the tariffs?

    It will make our industries more inefficient and make it even harder for them to compete and export.
    Our domestic market is small, and they will fail.
    This in turn will increase unemployment…

    • Jimothy Wongingtons on 08/04/2025 - 15:59
      +77

      i vote jv for president

      • jv on 08/04/2025 - 16:02
        +8

        😊

      • BewareOfThe Dog on 08/04/2025 - 22:18
        +2

        33 votes so far.

        • tenpercent on 09/04/2025 - 11:45
          -1

          On the level?

          • BewareOfThe Dog on 09/04/2025 - 17:01
            +1

            @tenpercent: 158 votes for @jv I thought I was the only one that +1'd jv.

            BTW, I saw this today

            • jv on 09/04/2025 - 17:20
              +2

              @BewareOfThe Dog: Yes, I'm getting royalties…

            • tenpercent on 09/04/2025 - 17:22
              -1

              @BewareOfThe Dog:

              BTW, I saw this today(facebook.com)

              I don't care about your sportsball and have never been even within 20km of Collingwood.

              • jv on 09/04/2025 - 17:37
                -1

                @tenpercent:

                never been even within 20km of Collingwood.

                how sad…. 😔

                • tenpercent on 09/04/2025 - 18:38

                  @jv: Why? Is it a nice area?

                  • jv on 09/04/2025 - 20:12

                    @tenpercent: It is the French Riviera of Melbourne…

                    • tenpercent on 09/04/2025 - 20:15

                      @jv: This is what the AI says:

                      Collingwood is now recognized as one of Melbourne's most up-and-coming neighborhoods, with high-end commercial activity and a growing residential space attracting creative professionals.
                      It is home to businesses like Canva and offers a vibrant mix of cafes, restaurants, and bars.
                      The suburb is also known for its street art, with notable murals and galleries.
                      Collingwood is bordered by Clifton Hill to the north, Abbotsford to the east, East Melbourne to the south, and Fitzroy to the west.
                      It is a popular location for singles and couples without children, partly due to its high crime rates.
                      The suburb is also home to Melbourne's second-largest LGBTQ community, with several gay clubs and bars.

            • RTX9090Ti on 11/04/2025 - 07:22
              +1

              @BewareOfThe Dog: And this

    • pegaxs on 08/04/2025 - 16:19
      +111

      Holy shit jv, you belt out from rubbish from time to time, and then every now and then you have a moment of clarity and post something as correct and insightful as this. I just hope that this is going to be the new norm…

      Here, have my upvote.

      • DashCam AKA Rolts on 08/04/2025 - 16:21
        +3

        Hear, hear!

      • May4th on 10/04/2025 - 09:08
        +6

        yeah this was a real shock to the system, a bigger shock than the tariffs

      • cerealJay on 10/04/2025 - 18:04
        -4

        What's with all the overnight tariff experts?

        The hand-wringing is incredible. People who've never said the word "tariff" in their entire lives, suddenly almost in tears about the subject because "7News" claims it's a "disaster" and "Trump Terror". 🤣

        "You just don't understannnd, it's a DISASTER!!!"…says the average person who struggles to understand their energy bill.

        • heal on 10/04/2025 - 19:51
          +2

          The European Union has on average a 14% tariff on Australian produce. No one complained about tariffs on Australian exports until Trump imposed his tariffs.

          FWIW, I am against the tariffs, even though it could result in lower interest rates which would benefit me.

        • skidexa on 10/04/2025 - 22:36
          +2

          Lol we learnt tariffs dont work in high school economics, and i finished highschool back in 2002

        • Crow K on 11/04/2025 - 10:19

          Because tariffs haven't materially affected these people's daily lives previously?

          Then one of the leaders of the free world spends months talking about them and there's a gigantic financial meltdown entirely because of tariffs and people read up on them to find out what's happening in the world?

          Which bit of the above is giving you difficulty?

        • skidexa on 11/04/2025 - 13:47

          My point was its not "overnight" as you suggest

      • RTX9090Ti on 11/04/2025 - 07:17

        Only read the 1st line and already voted for JV.

      • Crow K on 11/04/2025 - 10:23

        Petition for Scotty to create a Stopped Clock badge for breakout hits like jv's one

    • Mad Max on 08/04/2025 - 16:56
      +5

      Too late now.
      It all started in 1975 when the Whitlam government (ALP) signed the United Nations Lima Declaration, through which the Australian government sold out Australian industries and workers by specifically agreeing to transfer manufacturing to Third World countries, supposedly to help them develop.
      It all went downhill from there for australian manufacturing.
      There is no going back. Now Australia can no longer compete for a number of reasons: high salaries, high cost of electricity, high level of redtape and regulations, etc

      • Grunntt on 09/04/2025 - 10:39
        -4

        Not sure if quoting someone that's apparently been called a rightwing/white supremacist is the way to get your point across, unless you actually agree with his logic.

        • tenpercent on 11/04/2025 - 10:24
          +1

          Good grief, you're not saying that the TPP was going to be a good thing are you? The TPP would have imposed multinational corporation controlled kangaroo courts to bully / force nations into scrapping environmental protections, worker protections, consumer protections, etc.

      • BigTriangle on 09/04/2025 - 22:44
        +1

        Which business owners had a lightbulb moment, and then decided to ship their manufacturing to china where labour is cheap and regulation is lax?

      • CalmLemons on 10/04/2025 - 21:13
        +1

        Another point to highlight is this:

        There are 112 million people working in manufacturing jobs alone in China. Not even the other industries associated.

        There are 8 million unemployed people in america.

        There are 600k unemployed people in Australia.

        It takes 112 million people to make all your shit.

        Even if you got every single unemployed person in Australia, America, Europe, Russia combined, there would not be enough people to fulfill the labour required to make the necessary items we take for granted.

        There are 200 million unemployed people in the world - this is including the third world countries with no industrial base.

        Put these figures into your head.

        Everyone is working here as a team. South East asia is literally keeping the planet afloat.

        If you stopped the 112m chinese manufacturing labourers. from doing their job, inflation will hit the fking fan because you just don't have enough. people to make the goods required.

        • heal on 10/04/2025 - 21:57
          +1

          Out of the 600k unemployed I would say at least have never worked a day in their life and don't want a job.

          • tenpercent on 11/04/2025 - 10:27

            @heal: Nobody serious targets 0 unemployment. The economy we have is designed to have a certain proportion of the population unemployed. For the majority of them, it's not their fault, and if it is their fault and they decided to sort themselves out and get a job, someone else would join the unemployment figures instead. 0% unemployment would be a disaster.

            • heal on 11/04/2025 - 12:10
              +1

              @tenpercent: I agree with your first sentence and the last comment that 100% employment would be a disaster.

              it's not their fault, and if it is their fault and they decided to sort themselves out and get a job, someone else would join the unemployment figures instead

              For the people I see regularly who fit my description of never working a day in their life and not wanting a job, who's fault is it for their life choices? Themselves for getting hooked on drugs? Though some people I speak to the issue isn't drugs. Or blame the government for creating the situation where people can rely on welfare their whole life and be comfortable? They have the latest iphone and big LCD TVs. I see it everyday. I have asked people about whether they have any desires to work, to change their lives for the better and the answer is regularly "no". And there's plenty of jobs in my town that can't be filled. No-one else is joining unemployment figures if the vast majority of these bludgers get a job. The only way we get people into these jobs (that pay a decent wage) is through immigration. I have plenty of friends that have come to my town from India, Pakistan, various countries in Africa and England and they have overcome barriers and hurdles to get work, where a lot of Australians just couldn't be bothered.

              Note: I am not calling all long term unemployment bludgers. There are a number of legitimate factors whichvare a huge barrier to employment.

              • tenpercent on 11/04/2025 - 12:23

                @heal: I think you've described a conspicuous minority of the unemployed population.

                blame the government for creating the situation where people can rely on welfare their whole life and be comfortable?

                We've already established that our society has an economy which literally does not allow for full employment. Thus society ought to provide welfare sufficient that they can live. Or should we just tell them to fend for themselves by panhandling and making camp in the garbage tip. That's an idea! Let's have literal garbage people instead just so that a small handful of unemployed say "enough of this, I'm getting a job" (and then get turned away by employers because they smell of garbage)?

                I think you're also ignoring mental health issues.

                There are a number of legitimate factors whichvare a huge barrier to employment.

                The chief one being that the economy is actually designed to permanently have a certain percentage of the population (around 4% now, according to RBA estimates) unemployed. Once unemployment goes below that, the negative effects of low unemployment start kicking in (which eventually leads to more unemployment again anyway).

                • heal on 11/04/2025 - 17:50

                  @tenpercent:

                  I think you've described a conspicuous minority of the unemployed population

                  Maybe, but in my town of 7500 I can name 100 that fit my description. Not sure how many of 7500 are unemployed but 100 out of that is a fair amount and very conspicuous.

                  That's an idea! Let's have literal garbage people

                  Sounds like a terrible idea to me. I'm not saying I have all the answers, just that we have a system that encourages generational unemployment with no incentives for people to change.

                  I think you're also ignoring mental health issues

                  Interesting you think this then quote me.. "There are a number of legitimate factors which are a huge barrier to employment".

                  I didn't feel I needed to elaborate on the barriers. Non drug induced mental health is one of the legitimate barriers.

                  My comments were never about having zero unemployment or under a certain percentage. I was commenting about a serious societal issue we have and I think you're try to take us down a rabbit hole.

                  We can agree to disagree. You think it's a conspicuous minority and my observations and experiences is that it is a bigger problem.

          • BigTriangle on 13/04/2025 - 15:11

            @heal: ABS says there's 328k job vacancies. Fill all those vacancies, then out of the 600k un employed there's 272k un employed. So are those 272k now the ones who've never worked a day in their lives?

            • heal on 13/04/2025 - 15:54

              @BigTriangle: I can't put a number on it and am speaking in general terms based on my observations and conversations with numerous long term unemployed.

              I can say for a fact that those who have never worked definitely wouldn't be part of the 328k.

    • Wiadro on 08/04/2025 - 20:16
      +8

      Are you feeling okay?
      A common sense post.

    • Trying2SaveABuck on 08/04/2025 - 21:54
      +2

      Jv gets it and is spot on

    • cashless on 09/04/2025 - 00:18
      +5

      I’ll never accuse you of spouting rubbish again jv.
      Until you do of course…..

    • dowhatuwant2 on 09/04/2025 - 08:43

      If locals are the ones paying for tariffs as i always see as an argument against them then why do countries that get tariffs applied implement tariffs themselves in response?

      • Mugsy on 09/04/2025 - 09:34
        +2

        It's an indirect mechanism of getting the consumers in one's country to buy local by making the cost of foreign goods more expensive.

        So the response is to get their population base (consumers and importers) to buy from somewhere other USA, and their producers to export to other countries other than the USA.

        Talking to each and every consumer and producer in the country to convince them to do the above isn't feasible, so governments use tariffs to affect the market to achieve the results.

      • jv on 09/04/2025 - 10:43
        +2

        why do countries that get tariffs applied implement tariffs themselves in response?

        It is punitive…

        The do it to punish the country that is going to reduce the amount of goods they export because the cost to consumers is now more…

        It does in turn though impose new taxes on it's own citizens to reduce demand for the imported products.

    • tenpercent on 09/04/2025 - 17:36

      Wouldn't increasing unemployment in turn decrease inflation (because no money to buy stuff or take out loans with banks who give the loans by creating money out of thin air)?

      • jv on 09/04/2025 - 17:40
        +2

        Nah… the companies will just go out of business if they can't sell domestically either…

        • tenpercent on 09/04/2025 - 17:43

          So the business won't be spending money here and inflation will decline.

          • jv on 09/04/2025 - 17:47
            +1

            @tenpercent: or it will result in even less competition and scarce resources which will put up prices and therfore inflation will increase.

            • tenpercent on 09/04/2025 - 17:48

              @jv: or it could do both. So there will be net zero effect.

              • jv on 09/04/2025 - 17:50
                -1

                @tenpercent: net zero would only occur if they effects were equal…

                there are also other factors.

                • tenpercent on 09/04/2025 - 17:52

                  @jv:

                  also other factors

                  like the follow on effect of a reduction in bank lending (because unemployed people don't get loans and businesses that no longer exist don't get loans) which is where the majority of inflation comes from?

                  • jv on 09/04/2025 - 17:56

                    @tenpercent: rent, utilities, and household operations contribute the most.

                    • tenpercent on 09/04/2025 - 18:00
                      +1

                      @jv: 95% of Australia's money supply is magicked into existence by commercial banks (CBA, NAB, Westpac, etc) when they issue loans. More dollars in the system means the price of everything goes up.

                      • jv on 10/04/2025 - 09:17

                        @tenpercent:

                        magicked into existence by commercial banks

                        nah, that's the Reserve bank's role.

                        the money in the remaining banks is mainly for people's deposits…

                        • tenpercent on 10/04/2025 - 09:42
                          +1

                          @jv:

                          that's the Reserve bank's role

                          That's a common misunderstanding. It's probably how it should be. But it isn't how it is.

                          Banks create money when they extend loans to customers. This process adds to the supply of money in the economy.

                          1. A bank extends a loan to a customer:

                          When a bank extends a loan, it makes money available to the borrower, for example, to buy a car, a house or equipment for a business.

                          1. The bank credits the borrower's deposit account with the loan amount:

                          The bank may credit the deposit account of the borrower, who withdraws the funds to make their purchase."

                          1. The customer can then use this money to make purchases or investments:

                          The loaned funds will tend to find their way into a deposit somewhere in the banking system."

                          1. The loaned funds eventually find their way into a deposit somewhere in the banking system, increasing the supply of money:

                          In either case, the loaned funds will tend to find their way into a deposit somewhere in the banking system. This process adds to the supply of money.

                          Or in other words:

                          The process of extending loans will therefore typically create deposits at a system-wide level

                      • BigTriangle on 13/04/2025 - 15:12

                        @tenpercent: Fractional reserve banking, it's how it works

    • VBO on 10/04/2025 - 08:31

      jv for next governor

    • renster72 on 10/04/2025 - 09:20

      What industries? How does a Tariff make it harder to Export? Our Domestic Market never been bigger and we used to make Everything here decades ago..

      • jv on 10/04/2025 - 09:25

        How does a Tariff make it harder to Export?

        Makes the domestic industries inefficient compared to other countries.

        Our Domestic Market never been bigger

        So has export market

        and we used to make Everything here decades ago.

        Lots of items are cheaper to import

    • cerealJay on 10/04/2025 - 18:21
      -1

      No

      Now I'm thinking it could work, solely based on jv's disapproval.

      Have 236 economists upvoted jv? Or 236 people who go along with whatever the latest outraged opinion on complicated things tells them to be outraged about?

      So I'm going with "let's explore the concept in a rational way, less the emotional outbursts". Well done to the thread starter!

      Reminds me of the nuclear energy debate, which started with Labor ministers posting disinformation pictures of 3-eyed fish.

    • CalmLemons on 10/04/2025 - 20:00
      +3

      Man OP needs to read an economics book.

      The unemployment rate is the lowest it's been for 10 years+.

      That is all you need to know. The post is null and void.

      We already don't have enough people to fulfill many of our labour jobs, especially in the building industry.

      A worse case example of us is New Zealand, where you just don't have enough consumption/people to be able to make large scale manufacturing feasible for the domestic market/yet along enough people to supply the international market.

      Put simply, Australia not enough people buy, not enough people make, to make competitive enough, not enough feasibility.

      Australia big, land big, people not many. Not many buy, not many make.

      • Sammy Boi on 10/04/2025 - 20:32
        -3

        This needs to be told to all the people sitting out the front of shopping centres begging for money while sitting on their phones. I live in the capital and it's disgusting people expect handouts from citizens while they are already getting handouts from the government.

        • nman4k on 11/04/2025 - 09:48

          Who are these people? Never seen them

    • Sammy Boi on 10/04/2025 - 20:30

      AI for the win

    • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 11/04/2025 - 15:12

      What the hell is this timeline, I'm reading dead on accurate post from JV on a political and commercial topic.

      I'm shocked!

      • Aureus on 08/04/2025 - 19:08
        +51

        Also make it illegal to be poor.

    • greatlamp on 09/04/2025 - 07:28
      +13

      Those bludgers are living large on ~ $300 a week…

      How much is a week's rent and food where you live?

      • zwolf on 09/04/2025 - 10:57
        -4

        With rent assist etc it's actually more like 450 a week

        • greatlamp on 09/04/2025 - 11:31
          +16

          Yes. The point to consider is, is $450 a week a disincentive to seek paid employment? That's the implication when people say unemployment benefits are too high. You can add rent assistance, this isn't enough to afford to live without flat sharing.

          To me $450 a week is poverty, not a comfortable living. In fact it is so low it traps people in poverty

    • OBEY YOUR MASTERS on 09/04/2025 - 09:26

      Careful, you're talking about 50 per cent of the ozbargain population here.

    • Goremans on 09/04/2025 - 17:11
      +1

      Fun fact there is always a gross total less jobs than people to fill them.

      Either way you calculate employment - there will always be unemployed. Just consider yourself lucky your not.

    • Miss B on 10/04/2025 - 12:34
      +3

      Forcing people into desperate situations so their only choice to survive is crime. Also screwing people who belong on the disability pension, but because of their disabilities are unable to navigate the system to get it and end up stuck on jobseeker.

      You're obviously coming at this from a place of privilege, so you're not the best person to make these decisions. It would have a negative impact on the whole community, not just the poor people who you clearly detest.

  • tenpercent on 08/04/2025 - 15:59
    +2

    suffering the brunt of the Coalition's policies for advocating free trade

    The offshoring process of Australian manufacturing (western manufacturing in fact) occurred while Bob Hawke was at the helm. The privatisation of Australian owned public assets and utilities started under Hawke and Keating. 'Free trade' (which is usually heavily one sided towards whatever trading partner we're signing a deal with) is supported on both sides of the aisle.

    Yeah the Coalition has been sh8thouse, but the other side is no better.

    Time to look beyond the duopoly.

    developed nation safety standards

    FYI manufacturing is going more and more towards automation without many people involved beyond a couple of desk jobs. It's safer to not have humans doing stuff, right?

    • jv on 08/04/2025 - 16:12
      +39

      started under Hawke and Keating.

      Keating, unlike Trump understood economics.

      Trump only does stuff that advantages himself and doesn't give a toss about anybody else…

    • outlander on 08/04/2025 - 16:50
      +10

      automation

      That's what it's really all about. That's the end game. For capital to run the factories themselves without the need for labor. Everything the MAGA crowd parrot is based on the idea that local=jobs, which will no longer be the case. It's highly likely that the factory owners will seek billions of government grants to build up their factories locally, and that investment will never yield anything for the community.

      • Speckled Jim on 09/04/2025 - 20:55

        And Soylent Green is people.

    • arkie0 on 08/04/2025 - 23:05
      +5

      Bring back sewing machine sweat shops, shouldn't have sent that work to China in the first place

    • Andrew0415 on 09/04/2025 - 09:29
      +3

      It's sick, isn't it. Automation should be a liberating force for humanity but because we're stuck in this neoliberal hell of wealth inequality it does nothing except create fear and deprivation. Who the hell do they think they will be selling this shit to?

      • tenpercent on 09/04/2025 - 11:39

        Who the hell do they think they will be selling this shit to?

        And that's the 64 quadrillion dollar question.

    • danwylie on 09/04/2025 - 15:23
      +2

      Yeah it's kind of pointless trying to point fingers at one side or the other because it wasn't a one side or the other thing, it was the neoliberal consensus. They all agreed on this stuff! All the "politics" was basically stuff around the edges of that all powerful ideology.

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 08/04/2025 - 16:03
    +3

    all well and good but it will never happen unfortunately

    too many factors involved.

    starting with locally produced goods?

    see item x, made overseas and imported and distributed?
    yeah…thats going to cost at least double now.
    a lot of industry was/is basically just middle men distributors/resellers and or only a small amount of final assembly and checks done in Australia.
    many have already fallen/ eaten up by bigger fish due to price pressures, factories from overseas selling direct bypassing red tape and fees etc.
    gone too far to wind back now im afraid.

      • Jimothy Wongingtons on 08/04/2025 - 16:30
        +27

        trump himself and his mates will win, BIG TIME.

        losers: everyone else, and their children, and their children's children.

      • mskeggs on 08/04/2025 - 17:17

        Lol.

        • bbinc on 09/04/2025 - 09:52

          It’s a long read and I skimmed a lot of it, but it’s informative, applies to AU as well, and written by someone who has real experience. It’s a shame that anything longer than a social media post doesn’t seem to be absorbed by those running the show.

      • greatlamp on 09/04/2025 - 07:30
        +4

        Of course he will fail. Such a transformation would take decades. Look at how long it took for Japan or South Korea to industrialise after losing a war, and that was with government and foreign support

      • larndis on 09/04/2025 - 07:50
        +7

        Fail at what exactly? Creating a global recession? No. Making millions of US manufacturing jobs appear overnight? Yes.

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