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Calculating the impact of tarrifs on the price of dryers! Law of unintended consequences

Over the weekend a study came out here which showed that the price of dryers (washers too by the way) had risen by an average of US$ 90.00 per machine.

Following the imposition of tariffs (and aluminum too) on washing machines, some manufacturing was relocated to the US.  It is estimated that nearly 2,000 jobs were created.  As an individual that is suddenly working at manufacturing washing machines in the US, for them it's a good thing -- they have a job.  For everyone else (who is buying a washing machine) its a bad thing.

The number came out and what was surprising is that after years of falling prices for washer&dryers the price suddenly shot up.  In fact, and that's the interesting part, not only did the price of foreign washing machine rise, so did the price of domestic ones.   The total cost of the tariffs has been estimated at US$ 1.5 billion -- the Treasury department got about US$ 78 million and the rest was for the benefits of the new workers (yeah) and to their employer (ok they too).

Now what didn't appear in this study is the increase in the cost of aluminum.  Also subject to import duty so some of the increase in the price of washers & dryers could be factored to an increase in the cost of aluminum.

However, for the economy as a whole, the cost of tariffs has been US$ 1.5 billion or about US$ 800,000 per job!   You can assume that of the 800,000 the vast majority goes to the American companies that manufacture washing machines.  But what is truly amazing, hence the "unintended consequence" is the rise in the price of dryers -- where no tariffs have been imposed.  It seems that there is a balance between the price of washing machine and dryer -- and that manufacturers were able to not only pass on the cost of the tariffs but in absolute terms boost the price of white good equipment. 

There is no loss here, but there is an economic transfer between the manufacturers and the consumer, to the tune of US$ 1.5 billion -- it's clear that in Trumps' world this is an acceptable exchange between the two parts.

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