November 6, 2009 10:16AM 

# Cato Podcast Exposes Anti-Poor Bias of U.S. Tariffs 

By [Daniel Griswold](https://www.cato.org/people/daniel-griswold) 

---

<a class="js-popover-trigger cursor-pointer popover-trigger" data-bs-placement="bottom" data-bs-trigger="click" id="popover-trigger"> 

SHARE 

</a> 

The dirty secret of the U.S. tariff code is that it is not only insanely complex but that it is biased against the poor. Our highest remaining trade barriers are imposed on goods that loom the largest in the budgets of poor and middle-income families — such as food, shoes, and clothing.

Politicians and interest groups that fight any reduction of U.S. tariffs are unwittingly picking the pockets of the poor every day. I discuss how President Obama supports this unfair status quo in [a new Cato podcast,](https://www.cato.org/dailypodcast/podcast-archive.php?podcast_id=1019) in an earlier [newspaper column,](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10590) and in Chapter 9 of [*Mad about Trade.*](http://www.amazon.com/dp/193530819X/?tag=catoinstitute-20)

And you can bet your imported t‑shirt that I will highlight this inconvenient truth during my presentation at [today’s Cato book forum](https://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=6629). You can watch it live online beginning at noon, eastern time. Commenting on *Mad about Trade* will be Steven Pearlstein, business columnist for the *Washington Post.*

##### Related Tags 

[Trade Policy](https://www.cato.org/trade-policy), [Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies](https://www.cato.org/herbert-stiefel-center-trade-policy-studies) 

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).