A major puzzle in the Trump Crusader campaign: “Tahrir’s” “Tahrir’s” “mutual” duties, which is completely separated from what other countries receive the United States over our exports. In almost all cases, Trump’s tariff is larger several times. How does this giant Gulf justify? The president claims that we are “torn” not through excessive tariff, but rather “non -striking barriers” (NTBS), such as shares and technical standards that systematically prevent our goods from foreign markets, while we open America with the “cheaters” who close us.

In fact, Trump got this back: the United States is a more thirsty user than NTBS that he finds very offensive from all major economies in the world.

How protection is the United States?

There is a great respect for the place where the commercial policies of different countries stand on the spectrum from the open to the restriction, which is the international commercial barrier index gathered by the Tholos Foundation, the Washington, DC, which focuses on tax reform and policy research. For 2024, the TOLOS data has placed the United States as the twenty -fourth of the world’s twenty -fourth economy from a list of 88 countries, based on the number of restrictions on the trade imposed by each country. In general, we are about 10 % higher than the average in the total restrictions – on a list that includes many bad actors. Tholos numbers rate is 60 % worse than Japan and Canada, respectively, in No. 3 and No. 4 as more open to imports; 43 % lower than the United Kingdom; About a third of less than average European Union specializations; And 15 % shy of Taiwan. Surprisingly, the poll found that this country got 90 % of protectionist measures such as China, which is located 11 locations from the bottom, and 70 % is a forest spread in the last place in India.

It is clear that America’s position is relatively difficult to trade in general is not a tariff issue. on the contrary. Before the start of the Trump trade war, the average US duties apparently liked 2.2 %, according to the World Trade Organization. The World Trade Organization numbers place the average duty all over the world imposing fees on it by the six buyers of American exports – Canada, the European Union, Mexico, China, Japan, and the United Kingdom – by 3.2 %, a point above the American base. The great exception: As a result of the attack during the first Trump administration, China and the United States have put special punitive prices of 14 % on its exports, and 12 % on our shipments to the second largest economy in the world. So, outside commercial conflicts, the United States is a wonderful country, and the countries where we send most of our goods are not more than we do.

Consequently, the United States swings from a modest carrier of customs tariffs to a more protection country that is indirect, non -carrier or ntbs. In the same study, the Tolos Foundation in the United States has developed that the United States is the world’s largest user in the world from NTBS and the fifth access to any major industrial power, but it was not crossed by France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Switzerland. “For NTBS, the most active users are the United States and the European Union,” says Tholos.

Not widespread barriers

NTBS comes in a wide range of shapes. They include such practices as classes, technical standards, packing, marking, licensing, and safety requirements. In a study conducted in 2024, the St. Louis Federal Reserve stated that it has through 15 industrialized sectors, NTBS covered more than two -thirds of the imports of components, goods and final products. The report indicates the tremendous contradictions between definitions and NTBS in different industries. For chemical and electrical sectors, American tariff rates are less than 2 %. But NTBS covered more than 70 % of sales. A similar story for meat and vegetables: The definitions like the deal appear by 3 %, but more than 90 % of the companies that they sell in these companies decrease under the NTBS umbrella. Even for free marketwood, the duty is 1 %, while a third of what the US imports protect it is largely protected, to a large extent on horse. The paper gets rid of: “Contrary to the definitions, [NTBs] Is everywhere all over the United States in all industries. “

The Federal Reserve St. Lewis has found that about 20 % of NTBS is involved in issues such as health inspections needed to protect US consumers and workers. (The survey has not covered companies like semiconductors as national security may participate.) Instead, it seems that the NTBS predominance “reflects the goal of protecting the local industry from foreign competition”, and leads to distortion and “limiting the range of international trade”.

How works “Customs tariff rate”

The United States is a thirsty user of a protective tool called the tariff rate. Despite its name, TRQ is actually an unlikely barrier because it does not impose duties. TRQs usually allow products or commodities to enter the country exempt from fees to a certain level, and as soon as imports reach that the ghost leads to a prohibited high tariff, the outcomes of the competitive products and commodities stopped from the outside, and enforce a fixed share of the armor shield. A higher example: the sugar market, where, according to the law, the rules of the US Department of Agriculture are bound to produce the minimum prices in general from international markets. The Kato Institute’s study announced: “The United States government is the country’s sugar cartel leader.” Sugar TrQ is a decisive component of this system because it prevents cheap imported sugar from undermining the guaranteed pricing.

TRQs, in fact, is a basic cash crop for American agriculture. The American Trade Actor Office publishes the TRQS menu, which is comprehensive. A specific goal is Australia. It faces stakes on creams, ice cream, condensed milk, butter, and a number of other agricultural commodities. Canada is exposed to cheese, skim milk, butter and many other dairy products. TRQS Cap Beef from Japan and cheese from Peru. Additional rules challenge or prevent everything from beef from Brazil and Argentina, to tomatoes, blue berries and other products from Mexico to foreign sunscreen.

In his “mutual” introductory campaign, Trump suggested that Taiwan take 34 %, Japan by 24 %, the European Union by 10 %, Canada and Mexico by 25 % on solid content, aluminum and non -American in cars, and has put a 245 % commercial performance on China. However, in normal times, these countries receive a little tariff with US satisfaction with their exports, and the pile at much lower barriers than we do. The best solution for Trump will be to reduce that NTBS that raises the prices of American consumers and leads to our productivity in exchange for our commercial partners’ agreement to reduce their restrictions. This result will really embody the art of the deal.

This story was originally shown on Fortune.com

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2025-04-16 20:40:00