Abstract
President Trump campaigned on “making America great again” through trade and immigration restrictions. I argue that it is difficult for policymakers to restrict both trade and immigration because of trade’s effects on business support for immigration. When trade is restricted, more low-skill intensive goods are made in the US, leading to more demand for low-skill immigration from businesses. As businesses are relatively powerful, we should expect immigration to open. Conversely, when trade opens, fewer low-skill intensive goods are made in the US, leading to the closure of the firms that produce these goods. This reduces demand for low-skill labor and, with it, the demand for low-skill immigration. As business demand for immigration recedes, policymakers restrict immigration to appease anti-immigrant groups. Using data on immigration and trade in the US, I show that this relationship has held over US history. At the end of the article I hypothesize several reasons why Trump’s tariffs are not leading to more demand for immigration due to their limited effects on trade and the job market.
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©2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Introduction – January 2020 Volume of Forum
- Articles
- Trump’s Trade Revolution
- Pro-Trade Blocs in the US Congress
- Trump, Trade, and Immigration
- Consumers and the Sources of US Trade Openness
- How Have Members of Congress Reacted to President Trump’s Trade Policy?
- Trade Policy is Back in the News: Will Voters Care?
- The Counties that Counted: Could 2020 Repeat 2016 in the US Electoral College?
- It’s Trump’s Party and I’ll Cry if I Want To
- Book reviews
- Review of The Politics of Institutional Reform: Katrina, Education, and the Second Face of Power
- Review of The Meritocracy Trap: How America’s Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Introduction – January 2020 Volume of Forum
- Articles
- Trump’s Trade Revolution
- Pro-Trade Blocs in the US Congress
- Trump, Trade, and Immigration
- Consumers and the Sources of US Trade Openness
- How Have Members of Congress Reacted to President Trump’s Trade Policy?
- Trade Policy is Back in the News: Will Voters Care?
- The Counties that Counted: Could 2020 Repeat 2016 in the US Electoral College?
- It’s Trump’s Party and I’ll Cry if I Want To
- Book reviews
- Review of The Politics of Institutional Reform: Katrina, Education, and the Second Face of Power
- Review of The Meritocracy Trap: How America’s Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite