Announcing what you called “Mutual rates”Trump has maintained a key promise of his campaign by increasing US taxes on foreign goods to reduce the gap with the rates that, according to the White House, Other countries impose unjustly To American products.
Trump’s highest rates They would hit foreign entities that sell more goods to the United States of those who buy. But economists do not share Trump’s enthusiasm for rates, above all because they are a tax on imports that Usually has an impact on consumers. It is possible, however, that mutual rates attract other countries at the table and get their taxes on imports.
Will the rates collected go to the general income fund?
The rates are imports on imports, collected When foreign goods cross the American border by the customs agency and the protection of borders. The money, about 80,000 million dollars (72,000 million euros last year, go to the American treasure to help pay Expenses of the federal government. Congress has the authority to decide how money is spent.
Trump, largely supported by republican legislators who control the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives of the United States, wants to use the tariff revenues for Financial tax cuts This, according to analysts, would have benefited the rich in a disproportionate way.
In particular, they want extend the approved tax cuts In the first term of Trump, which expires mainly at the end of 2025. The fiscal foundation, a non -partisan study center in Washington, concluded that the extension of Trump’s tax cuts would reduce federal revenues of 4.5 billion dollars (4.1 billion euros) from 2025 to 2034.
Trump You want to increase rates to compensate for the collection of lowest taxes. Another group of experts, the political tax center, said that the extension of the 2017 tax cuts would provide continuous tax relief for Americans At all levels of income “, but families would receive a greater advantage”.
When do prices load following the tariff policy?
It depends on how companies respond both in the United States and abroad, but Consumers could see how prices increase in general One or two months later The imposition of rates. In the case of some products, such as those of Mexico, prices could increase much more quickly after the rates in force.
Some American retailers and other importers They could absorb part of the cost of ratesAnd foreign exporters could reduce their prices to compensate for additional rates. But for many companies, the rates that Trump announced on Wednesday, since 20% on imports from Europe will be too big to swallow them alone.
Companies can also use rates such as Sorry to increase prices. When Trump slapped the washing machines with rates in 2018, subsequent studies showed that retailers have increased the prices of both washing machines and dryers, although there were no new rates on dryers.
A key question in the coming months is If something similar will happen again. Economists are concerned that consumersWhich has just experienced the largest inflationary rebound in four decades, they are more used to the increase in prices than before the pandemic.
But there are also indications that the Americans, discouraged by the increase in the cost of livingThey are less willing to accept price increases and simply cut their purchases. This could dissuade companies to increase prices a lot.
What is the limit of the manager’s power to apply the rates?
The Constitution of the United States grants the congress The power to establish rates. But over the years, the congress has delegated those powers in the president through different laws. These laws specify the circumstances in which the White House can impose rates, which are usually limited to cases in which Imports threaten national security or seriously damage a specific sector.
In the past, the presidents generally imposed rates only after making a public public to determine If some imports satisfied these criteria. Trump followed those steps by imposing rates to his first term.
In his second term, however, Trump tried Use the emergency powers established in a 1977 law impose more ad hoc rates. Trump said, for example, that The Fenanil that flows from Canada and Mexico It constitutes a national emergency and has used this pretext to impose rates of 25% on goods from both countries.
The congress can try to cancel an emergency declared by a president and the democratic senator for Virginia, Tim Kaine, proposed to do it precisely about Canada. This law could be approved by the Senate, but probably it would fail in the room of representatives. Other invoices to the congress that would also limit the authority of the president to establish rates also have many possibilities to be approved.
ADVERTISINGWhat rates do other countries apply to American products?
American rates are generally lower than those of other countries. According to the World Trade Organization, the American average rate, weighted to reflect the goods that are truly marketed, It is only 2.2%, Faced with 2.7% of the European Union, 3% of China and 12% of India.
Other countries also tend to make more than the United States Protect their farmers with high rates. The American rate weighted according to the trade of agricultural products, for example, is 4%, Compared to 8.4% of the EU12.6% of Japan, 13.1% of China and 65% of India.
The Opo figures do not count the recent taxes or Trump import rates Among the countries that have signed their free trade agreementsLike the agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada, which allows many products to cross the non -tax borders.
However, the administration Trump used his calculations to reach much larger rates This, according to them, other economies impose on the United States. For example, the White House declared on Wednesday that the effective rates of the European Union in the United States are 39%, well above the AUN figures. According to the White House, Chinese rates are 67%.
ADVERTISINGThe previous US administrations Have agreed the rates that Trump now describes as unjust. They were the result of a long negotiation between 1986 and 1994, the so -called “Uruguay Ronda”, which ended in a commercial pact signed by 123 countries, which was the basis of World commercial system For almost four decades.
