The Mises Institute is one of the greatest organizations to introduce people of all ages to the world of Austrian economics.

Shortly following former Congressman Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential election campaign, I signed up for the institution’s economics courses. I learned a lot by reading Henry Hazlitt, Murray Rothbard, Ludwig von Mises and all of the other great economists and thinkers.

What’s great about Austrian economics is that you are constantly learning something new. And, more importantly, you can solve today’s problems with this economic school of thought.

On Thursday, the Mises Institute published one of my articles on duties imposed by the U.S. government on Chinese aluminum foil. I have done a lot in my writing career, but this is definitely a great honour.

Here is an excerpt to my piece entitled “Duties Imposed Against Chinese “Dumping” Hurt American Consumers“:

For years, special interests have called on the U.S. government to “level the playing field” in the form of duties, levies, and other antiquated measures. Democrats and Republicans alike have aired their grievances over the trade deficit, grumbling about exporters hurting American workers by flooding the market with cheap goods. These complaints are deeply misguided.

Over the last decade, China has been accused of tilting international trade in its favor. Is this true? No, it is demonstrably false, as Beijing’s subsidized exports greatly benefit American consumers far more than the Chinese population.

You can’t tell that to the U.S. government, though.

In late October, the Department of Commerce announced that China dumped aluminum foil on the U.S. market, selling the goods at “unfairly low prices.”

Trade policy under Trump hasn’t been dramatically different from his predecessors, though. Who who monitor trade deals have forgotten about President Barack Obama’s 35% tax on Chinese tires and President George W. Bush’s 20% tax on imported steel.