Schadenfreude: Crony Jerks at Whirpool Who Begged for Tariffs Are Now Suffering From Them
This is definitely from the schadenfreude files, via the WSJ:
After the Trump administration announced new tariffs on imported washing machines in January, Marc Bitzer, the chief executive of Whirlpool Corp., celebrated his win over South Korean competitors LG Electronics Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.
“This is, without any doubt, a positive catalyst for Whirlpool,” he said on an investor conference call.
Nearly six months later, the company’s share price is down 15%. One factor is a separate set of tariffs on steel and aluminum, imposed by the U.S. in March and later expanded, that helped drive up Whirlpool’s raw-materials costs. Net income, even with the added benefit of a lower tax bill, was down $64 million in the first quarter compared with a year earlier.
Unfortunately, as is always true in protectionism, consumers are being hurt as well. This chart on the left is amazing:
One reason politicians do this sort of thing is that there really is not any sort of organized consumer groups in this country, other than groups on the Left like Ralph Nader's PIRG groups that often actually support protectionism -- these groups always seem more beholden to traditional Democratic groups (especially unions) than they are to consumers. Elizabeth Warren, who styles herself a consumer advocate and who created the CFPB almost single-handedly, actually supports Trump's tariffs. Since the link above is gated, I will give an excerpt of Senator Warren advocating for higher consumer prices:
But the support of key Democrats—including Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts—for Mr. Trump’s “America first” approach to trade stands to complicate any GOP effort to tie the president’s hands.
The awkward political divisions over trade matters were on display Sunday as Ms. Warren backed Mr. Trump’s policy while Republican senators rebuked the president.
“When President Trump says he’s putting tariffs on the table, I think tariffs are one part of reworking our trade policy overall,” Ms. Warren said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Some Democratic lawmakers have found fault with the implementation or scope of the steel and aluminum tariffs. But Ms. Warren, to whom Mr. Trump derisively referred as “Pocahontas” again on Saturday, declined to criticize the president’s policy and said previous approaches to trade boosted profits at multinational corporations.
