In The Tanks - Help Katrina Recovery by Cutting Tariffs

The Heritage Foundation thinks that slicing tariffs will help in the rebuilding effort along the Gulf Coast:

Most Americans hope that Gulf Coast businesses will be able to return to the area quickly and provide jobs for displaced workers. With lower reconstruction costs from reduced tariffs, companies in the region will face greater incentives to rebuild and Katrina’s impact on the U.S. economy and the federal budget would be blunted. Moreover, breaking down tariffs could increase regional investment and employment prospects, improving both the business climate and the chance that local government finances will stabilize soon. Perhaps most importantly, with lower tariffs, the region’s residents—now displaced from their homes, facing unemployment, and receiving limited compensation from insurance policies—would have less to fear about the cost and time required to rebuild their lives.

Penalty tariffs on lumber imports from Canada average 27 percent. This adds an additional $1,000 to the price of a new home, on average. Cement imports from Mexico face average penalty tariffs of almost 55 percent, a markup that will make the price of rebuilding home foundations, office buildings, highways, bridges, ports, and other infrastructure far more costly. Eliminating these tariffs would reduce the amount of federal assistance that is required as well as reduce the burden of rebuilding on U.S. taxpayers. Likewise, steel and specialty steel products will be essential to rebuild the Gulf Coast, but their supply is tight due to protectionist policies favoring a few U.S. producers. Unless these policies are changed, steel prices will climb when rebuilding begins.

I think the rebuilding effort along the Gulf Coast could be as good as time as any for W to fufill his pledge before the UN to look at tariffs.