Asked by Ke'Andre Dixon

give me an example of a tariff

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
A tariff is a tax on imported goods. Here are two simple examples showing how they work:

1) Ad valorem tariff (percentage)
- Policy: 20% tariff on imported cars.
- World price of a car: $20,000.
- Price paid by domestic buyers (ignoring transport/markup): $20,000 × 1.20 = $24,000.
- If 1,000 cars are imported, government revenue = $4,000 × 1,000 = $4,000,000.
- Effects: higher consumer prices, fewer imports, some protection for domestic producers, and possible deadweight loss and retaliation.

2) Specific tariff (fixed amount)
- Policy: $100 per ton tariff on imported wheat.
- World price: $200/ton.
- Domestic price = $200 + $100 = $300/ton.
- If 50,000 tons are imported, government revenue = $100 × 50,000 = $5,000,000.
- Effects: same qualitative outcomes as above but the price increase is fixed per unit rather than proportional.

If you want, I can show how to calculate changes in import quantity and welfare (consumer surplus, producer surplus, deadweight loss) for one of these examples.