TARIFFS
2. What is a Tariff?
- Most countries are limited by their natural resources and ability to produce certain goods and services.
- They trade with other countries to get what their population needs and demands. However, trade isn't always conducted in an amenable manner between trading partners.
- Policies, geopolitics, competition, and many other factors can make trading partners unhappy. One of the ways governments deal with trading partners they disagree with is through tariffs.
- A tariff is a tax imposed by one country on the goods and services imported from another country to influence it, raise revenues, or protect competitive advantages.
3. Key Take Aways
- Governments impose tariffs to raise revenue, protect domestic industries, or exert political leverage over another country.
- Tariffs often result in unwanted side effects, such as higher consumer prices.
- Tariffs have a long and contentious history, and the debate over whether they represent good or bad policy still rages.
4. History of Tariffs
4.1 Pre Modern Europe
- In pre-modern Europe, a nation's wealth was believed to consist of fixed, tangible assets, such as gold, silver, land, and other physical resources.
- Trade was seen as a Zero-sum game that resulted in either a clear net loss or a clear net gain of wealth.
- If a country imported more than it exported, a resource, mainly gold, would flow abroad, thereby draining its wealth. Cross-border trade was viewed with suspicion, and countries preferred to acquire colonies with which they could establish exclusive trading relationships rather than trading with each other.
- This system, known as mercantilism, relied heavily on tariffs and even outright bans on trade. The colonizing country, which saw itself as competing with other colonizers, would import raw materials from its colonies, which were generally barred from selling their raw materials elsewhere.
- The colonizing country would convert the materials into manufactured wares, which it would sell back to the colonies. High tariffs and other barriers were implemented to ensure that colonies only purchased manufactured goods from their home countries.
4.2 Late 19th and early 20th Centuries
- Relatively free trade enjoyed a heyday in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the idea took hold that international commerce had made large-scale wars between nations so expensive and counterproductive that they were obsolete.
- World War I proved that idea wrong, and nationalist approaches to trade, including high tariffs, dominated until the end of World War II.
- From that point on, free trade enjoyed a 50-year resurgence, culminating in the creation in 1995 of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), which acts as an international forum for settling disputes and laying down ground rules.
- Free trade agreements, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) now known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) and the European Union (EU), also proliferated.
4.3 In the 21st Century
- Skepticism of this model sometimes labeled neoliberalism by critics who tie it to 19th-century liberal arguments in favor of free trade grew, however, and Britain in 2016 voted to leave the European Union.
- That same year Donald Trump won the U.S. presidential election on a platform that included a call for tariffs on Chinese and Mexican imports, which he implemented when he took office.
- Critics of tariff-free multilateral trade deals, who come from both ends of the political spectrum, argue that they erode national sovereignty and encourage a race to the bottom regarding wages, worker protections, and product quality and standards.
- Meanwhile, the defenders of such deals counter that tariffs lead to trade wars, hurt consumers, and hamper innovation.
5. Understanding Tariffs
- Tariffs are used to restrict imports. Simply put, they increase the price of goods and services purchased from another country, making them less attractive to domestic consumers.
- A key point to understand is that a tariff affects the exporting country because consumers in the country that imposed the tariff might shy away from imports due to the price increase. However, if the consumer still chooses the imported product, then the tariff has essentially raised the cost to the consumer in another country.
There are two types of tariffs:
- A specific tariff is levied as a fixed fee based on the type of item, such as a $500 tariff on a car.
- An ad-valorem tariff is levied based on the item's value, such as 5% of an import's value.
6. Why Government Imposes Tariffs?
Tariffs can be used to raise revenues for governments. This kind of tariff is called a revenue tariff and is not designed to restrict imports. For instance, in 2018 and 2019, President Donald Trump and his administration imposed tariffs on many items to rebalance the trade deficit. In the fiscal year 2019, customs duties received were $18 billion. In FY 2020, duties received were $21 billion.
6.2 Protect Domestic Industries
Governments can use tariffs to benefit particular industries, often doing so to protect companies and jobs. For example, in May 2022, President Joe Biden proposed a 25% ad valorem tariff on steel articles from all countries except Canada, Mexico, and the United Kingdom (the U.K. has a quota of an aggregate of 500,000 metric tons it can trade with the U.S.). This proclamation reopens the trade of specific items with the U.K. while taking measures to protect domestic U.S. steel manufacturing and production jobs.
6.3 Protect Domestic Consumers
By making foreign-produced goods more expensive, tariffs can make domestically-produced alternatives seem more attractive. Some products made in countries with fewer regulations can harm consumers, such as a product coated in lead-based paint. Tariffs can make these products so expensive that consumers won't buy them.
6.4 Protect National Interests
Tariffs can also be used as an extension of foreign policy as their imposition on a trading partner's main exports may be used to exert economic leverage. For example, when Russia invaded Ukraine, much of the world protested by boycotting Russian goods or imposing sanctions. In April 2022, President Joe Biden suspended normal trade with Russia. In June, he raised the tariff on Russian imports not prohibited by the April suspension to 35%.
7. Advantages of Tariffs
- Produce revenues: As discussed, tariffs provide a government a chance to bring in more money. This can relieve some of the tax burdens felt by a county's citizens and help the government to reduce deficits.
- Open negotiations: Tariffs can be used by countries to open negotiations for trade or other issues. Each side can use tariffs to help them create economic policies and talk with trade partners.
- Support a nation's goals: One of the most popular uses for tariffs is to use them to ensure domestic products receive preference within a country to support businesses and the economy.
- Make a market predictable: Tariffs can help stabilize a market and make prices predictable.
8. Disadvantages of Tariffs
- Create issues between governments: Many nations use tariffs to punish or discourage actions they disapprove of. Unfortunately, doing this can create tensions between two countries and lead to more problems.
- Initiate trade wars: A typical response for a country with tariffs imposed on it is to respond similarly, creating a trade war in which neither country benefits from the other.
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For Prelims: Tariffs, Zero-sum game, Cross-border trade, World Trade Organisation (WTO), North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), and the European Union (EU). For Mains: 1. What is a Tariff and explain why government imposes tariffs. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages associated with Tariffs. (250 Words). |
