Tariffs – The Economics, Tech, Health and Culture Remix (beta)

Three tariff lessons from US interwar history

October 7, 2018 Bilal 0

Three tariff lessons from US interwar history https://ift.tt/2IizJsq National tariff schedules are inevitably detailed and complex, but a broad-brushed macroeconomic picture can be painted using the ratio of custom duties collected to the value of dutiable imports. Figure 1 presents this measure from 1895 to 2000. The upper panel covers an early period of unilateral US legislative acts. The lower panel covers the period of formal multilateral trade agreements that followed – the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the WTO. Figure 1 Ad valorem equivalent tariff rate (ratio of customs duties to dutiable imports) Notes: Vertical lines are […]

How much would the iPhone cost if it were made in America?

September 19, 2018 Bilal 0

How much would the iPhone cost if it were made in America? https://ift.tt/2MrE8tF Even if President Donald Trump won his battle with Apple and the tech giant started to manufacture its iPhones in the United States, it might not even be a good idea. Trump lashed out at Apple recently after the company said the White House’s proposed $200 billion tariffs on Chinese goods would hurt its business. Trump tweeted: “Make your products in the United States instead of China. Start building new plants now.” It’s tempting to write off Trump here as just tweeting populist rhetoric, but he actually […]

Do Import Tariffs Help Reduce Trade Deficits?

September 2, 2018 Bilal 0

Do Import Tariffs Help Reduce Trade Deficits? https://ift.tt/2nA1AuN Mary Amiti, Mi Dai, Robert C. Feenstra, and John Romalis Import tariffs are on the rise in the United States, with a long list of new tariffs imposed in the last few months—25 percent on steel imports, 10 percent on aluminum, and 25 percent on $50 billion of goods from China—and possibly more to come. One of the objectives of these new tariffs is to reduce the U.S. trade deficit, which stood at $568.4 billion in 2017 (2.9 percent of GDP). The fact that the United States imports far more than it exports is viewed by some as unfair, […]