> 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 du

> 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).