Tariffs & Policy
Rules of Origin: How a Product Gets a Nationality
A phone assembled in one country from parts made in six others has to count as being from somewhere. The test that decides it is…
Tariffs & Policy
What a tariff is, who pays it, and what trade policy can and cannot do.
13 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 1 of 2
Tariffs & Policy
Who Actually Pays a Tariff, and Why the Answer Is It Depends
The importer writes the cheque, but that settles almost nothing about where the cost finally rests. Incidence is decided by which side can walk away.
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Tariffs & Policy
The Classification Code That Decides What an Import Costs
Before anyone argues about a rate, somebody has to decide what the thing is. That decision is made in a numbering system most…
Tariffs & Policy
Percentage or Per Kilo: Why the Shape of a Duty Matters
Two duties can raise the same revenue and land very differently. The difference is whether the charge tracks value or quantity.
Tariffs & Policy
Most-Favoured-Nation Is a Floor, Not a Favour
The phrase sounds like special treatment and means close to the opposite. It is the default rate that everyone gets unless…
Tariffs & Policy
The Barriers That Are Not Tariffs and Often Bite Harder
Duties are visible, published and comparable. Almost everything else that restricts trade is none of those things.
Tariffs & Policy
Anti-Dumping Duties and the Problem of Proving a Price Is Too Low
Trade remedy cases turn on comparing a price in one market with a price in another. Almost every step of that comparison is…
Tariffs & Policy
Why Raw Materials Enter Cheap and Finished Goods Do Not
Duty rates in most schedules rise with each stage of processing. That gradient quietly decides where value gets added.
Tariffs & Policy
Tariff-Rate Quotas: Two Prices for the Same Product
A quota that does not forbid imports but makes the ones beyond a threshold much more expensive. The interesting question is who…
Tariffs & Policy
Duty Drawback and the Goods That Only Pass Through
Most customs systems accept that a country should not tax goods it does not consume. The schemes that implement this reshape where…
Tariffs & Policy
How Customs Decides What a Shipment Is Worth
An ad valorem duty needs a value to apply itself to. Arriving at that figure involves more rules than most importers expect.
Tariffs & Policy
Why Firms Pay Duties They Could Legally Avoid
Preferential agreements cut duty to zero on a great deal of trade that still enters at the standard rate. The reason is paperwork…