Tariffs are border taxes charged on foreign imports. Importers pay them upon entry to the customs agency of the country or bloc imposing them.

Tariffs can be levied in different ways. It can be a flat-rate tariff linked to weight, or calculated as a proportion of the overall value of the goods. It can also be a mixture of both. A country can set a quota, enabling a certain volume of a product to flow in before a higher tariff rate kicks in.

Tariffs raise money for governments, but are primarily used to raise the price of foreign goods, protecting domestic producers from global competition.



Countries signed up to the World Trade Organization (WTO) must impose tariffs at the same level for all other WTO-member trading partners under the organisation’s “most favoured nation” rule – unless they secure alternative deals with particular countries or trading blocs.

Richard Partington