President Trump has just slapped a 25 percent tariff on about $50 billion worth of Chinese products. His complaint is that China imposes significantly higher…
President Trump has just slapped a 25 percent tariff on about $50 billion worth of Chinese products. His complaint is that China imposes significantly higher tariffs on the U. S. than the U. S. imposes on China. According to the World Trade Organization, the president is correct.
Trump has been relentless in his assertion that China and other nations, including the G-7 countries, are taking advantage of the U. S. For example, in a recent tweet he wrote: “If we charge a country ZERO to sell their goods, and they charge us 25,50 or even 100 percent to sell ours, it is UNFAIR and can no longer be tolerated. That is not Free or Fair Trade, it is Stupid Trade!”
When other countries impose higher tariffs and barriers on U. S. products and services, that action makes our products and services less attractive or less available to foreign consumers. That’s why Trump thinks the U. S. trade deficit is so large. One doesn’t have to be a protectionist to realize the president has a point.
According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), the U. S. imposes, on average, lower tariffs than our closest trading partners. The WTO’s interactive map highlights the “simple average applied MFN tariff” (Most Favored Nation) of various countries.
One reason for developing a WTO-type averaging is tariffs are so varied and complicated. A country may have high tariffs on some products — as Canada imposes on dairy imports — and either very low or no tariffs on many others.
