[sgnelson]

I'm not an international trade lawyer/expert by any means, but this seems like an unfair government subsidy. I guess the WTO won't care though.

But since this does seem like a government subsidy, I predict over the longer term this will only hamper US companies, not help them. And when this exemption inevitably disappears, US companies will end up further behind because they did not have to compete to the same level as other international corporations.

America has always bent the international order for it's own ends, but it seems like the real innovation and competitiveness that we did have is slipping away and we're left with nothing but trade barriers and monopolies. It's not going to work out well long term I predict.

[garbawarb]

Nah. The United States has the biggest lead and it's on the decline, but who's on the ascent? China? It'll be a long long time before any other country comes close to U.S. economic competitiveness.

[immibis]

FWIW the unique economic position of America is pretty much solely due to the fact it prints the world reserve currency (which is because it was geographically isolated from WW1/2) and not much to do with its actual production. When that fails it becomes just another (very big) country that will have to produce as much as it consumes.