An import tariff or import duty is a schedule of duties imposed by a country on imported goods. A tax (also known as a duty) is a financial charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e. ... Look up country in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

It is paid at a border or port of entry to the relevant government to allow a good to pass into that government's territory. In medieval and ancient times, such tariffs were even collected by local governments. Now this is very rare. Typically they are collected by national governments or, in a customs union, by the regional authority. A customs union is a free trade area with a Common External Tariff. ...

The tariff can be levied on a percentage of the value of the import, or the amount of the import (amount per unit of import). Tariffs are traditionally designed to raise revenue for the government, however they can also be for; A tariff is a tax on foreign goods. ...

• Reducing the level of imports by making them more expensive relative to domestic substitutes (this lowers a balance of trade deficit).
• To counter the practice of dumping by raising the import price of the dumped good to market level.
• To retaliate against trade barriers imposed by another country, a trade war.
• To protect key industries such as agriculture, such as the European Union has done with its Common Agricultural Policy.
• To protect a new industry until it is sufficiently well established to compete on the international market.

In the United States and other countries, import tariffs are controversial, and the World Trade Organization has attempted to minimize them. In the United Kingdom, import tariffs were abolished by Harold Macmillan's Conservative government in 1959, a method which arguably did much to increase American cultural influence in the UK. The balance of trade (or net exports, NX) is the difference between the monetary value of exports and imports in an economy over a certain period of time. ... In economics, dumping can refer to any kind of predatory pricing, and is by most definitions a form of price discrimination. ... A trade war refers to two or more nations raising or creating tariffs or other trade barriers on each other in retaliation for other trade barriers. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... The World Trade Organization (WTO, French: , German: , Spanish: ) is an international organization that establishes rules for international trade through consensus among its member states. ... Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. ... The Conservative Party (officially the Conservative & Unionist Party) is currently the second largest political party in the United Kingdom in terms of sitting Members of Parliament (MPs), and the largest in terms of public membership. ... Year 1959 (MCMLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

See also

• GATT
• Quota Share
• Free trade
• Customs
• Harmonized System

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (usually abbreviated GATT) functions as the foundation of the WTO trading system, and remains in force, although the 1995 Agreement contains an updated version of it to replace the original 1947 one. ... A quota is a prescribed number or share of something. ... Free trade is an economic concept referring to the selling of products between countries without tariffs or other trade barriers. ... Customs duty is a tariff or tax on the import or export of goods. ... The Harmonized System of tariff nomenclature are internationally standardized names and numbers maintained by the World Customs Organization for classifying traded products. ...

External Links

• eximscammers.com This nonprofit website is a fraud and scam Complaint Center dedicated to serve as a vehicle to receive, record and publish fraud and scam complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of international trade. You can search scammer database inorder to see whether there is a complaint about your potential business partners or not. Or you can add the firm that victimized you, to continuous growing scammer database.