import tariff
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An import tariff or import duty is a schedule of duties imposed by a country on imported goods. 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.
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;
- 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.
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