3 ms·

I'm pretty sure that prior to this silly trade spat China simply charged their national sales tax (17%) against imports - which is fair since that puts imports

I'm pretty sure that prior to this silly trade spat China simply charged their national sales tax (17%) against imports - which is fair since that puts imports on a level playing field with local products. This is not unusual, NZ, where I live, does the same thing (15%). US states with sales taxes do too. I think China is targeting pork and soy beans (lowest prices now in a decade)

r_singh 8y ago
> prior to this silly trade spat China simply charged their national sales tax Not true. Developing countries like China and India have long imposed "import duties" (aka customs or tariff) on certain categories of products to safe guard local industry and employment while making special trade agreements only with a few countries. They even change the tariffs on a yearly basis without caring about consumers of imported goods in their country (prices of imported cars and items like the iPhone vary every year in India).