In this case, the British government which was the ruler of America put a tax on their own tea...they were not taxing an imported product (form another country), it was their own product, thus it can be considered a tax and not a tariff...what you think they created a tariff against their own goods? Also, America was a colony not free at this point. England intended to take the raw products from America, manufacture in England and sell it back to America at inflated prices...this is hardly free market and has nothing to do with tariffs...rather it was a form of economic slavery of the American population and we tossed them out and governed our selves...greatest Republic in history...now under attack by globalist and free traders who are willing to sacrifice sovereignty for the almighty yuan. Globalist have subjected Americans to the foreign based WTO and other organizations that should have nothing to say about how America conducts its business or foreign affairs.
A tariff is a tax levied by a government on imported goods; in some countries it also may be a tax on exported goods. A tariff also is called a customs duty or an impost.
In general terms the purposes of a tariff are twofold:
1. To supply revenue to the government; this was especially true in the early days of the United States when other forms of federal taxation had not been developed
2. To protect domestic producers from foreign competition; placing a tax on an imported foreign item would make a similar domestic items more competitive in price; use of this form of tariff is called protectionism. The stock argument presented by protectionists is that such duties are needed only until there is an equalization of production costs between the U.S. and the foreign nation
Some guy in the Commerce Department (?) is going to decide how much tariff is going to be.
It's it the same for all imported products or is there a different tariff for different items?
Who decides at the micro level and what is the basis for their decision?
More to the point I've had my eye on a way cool Vizio LCD for $499.99 at Costco. How much is that going to cost post tariff?
While I'm out I really like Italian Pignoli nuts. I'm not snobblish but I think the imported are superior to domestic. How much will that $15.99 bag be under your tariff?
Will it have a higher tariff than the TV, more or the same?
Will all imported goods be subject to a tariff or just some things. If the latter why?
If other countries decide that they'll start imposing tariffs what would be the consquences of few US exports? If the US couldn't domestically absorb all our output how would you proposed businesses put at risk because they can't export be handled? Allowed to fail or would you suggest government support?