Surcharge from 10 % to 15 %. It is the winning bet that the American president has just won Turnberry, after his interview with the president of the European Commission. A financial windfall that will allow United States to carry out several hundred billions of dollars thanks to customs duties indexed to most European products.
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What is a customs right?
THE customs duties are taxes collected by a state on imported goods on its territory when they cross its border. The imposition of customs duties is therefore, in essence, an eminently sovereign power.
These taxes are fixed at the discretion of theState, and are generally proportional to the value or quantity of Biens concerned. In economics, customs duties fall under protectionism. The idea of this tariff measure: to mitigate the negative externalities of foreign competition and protect industry and national employment.
What are customs duties for?
The application of imports to imports meets several objectives:
- Protect the national economy : by making foreign products more expensive than national products, customs duties encourage domestic consumption, thus promoting national companies. Which, by runoff effect, has repercussions on employment. Protect the national industry, ultimatelyto protect national workers. To take the example of the European Union, which imposes a customs tax of 10 % on imported cars outside the EU (let us admit that they are Japanese or American): European motorists will be more encouraged to buy vehicles manufactured in Germany, because they will be less expensive, compared to an American or Japanese model surcharged up to 10 %.
- Generate tax revenues : Originally, customs duties represented an important part of the national budget. If this tax is today less important in industrial and developed countries, it remains an important source of income in emerging or developing countries. The perceived recipe can thus be donated in the fields of health, education, infrastructure, etc.
- Regulate trade : customs duties are also an interesting commercial policy tool, since theAndAT can choose to limit or, conversely, to encourage certain types of imports. This is what we do, in this regard, the EUnited States with regard to many Chinese products, which flood their domestic market.
- Customs duties also allow a country to exert diplomatic or economic pressure with regard to a particular country. Again, this lever retaliatory was abundantly used by Washington. In particular with regard to countries hostile to American power, or deemed uncooperative such as Venezuela or China, even if Donald Trump has reversed the trend, recently exempting several nations of customs fees such as Russia, Belarus, Cuba or even North Korea.
There are several categories of customs duties:
- Customs duties ad valoremrelating to “value”, constitute the most widespread type of customs duties. It is a question of engraving a certain percentage on the value of the goods. So, if the EUnited States apply a 10 % tax on wines and spirits from the European Union, a batch of 1,000 euros will bring in the US state 100 euros once the bottle box has arrived at your destination.
- Specific customs duties: which are not aimed at a designated product as such, but tonnage, the quantity of goods (calculated in weight, volume or number). Washington can therefore decide to apply a fixed amount of 50 euros per liter of imported wine.
- Mixed rights: which combine at the same time rights ad valorem and specific.
Customs duties in practice
Each merchandise entering the territory must be the subject of a customs declaration. This declaration contains:
- The nature of the product (de la Chartreuse, for example)
- Its value (30 euros for 35 cl)
- Its origin (France)
- The customs code (commercial name which defines the species of the product. Example: SH 22042190)
The importer must pay this right to customs from the importing country.
Within the European Union, customs duties are set by the European Commission. It is it which leads international trade negotiations and which offers the common external rate (TEC) that the Member States will have to apply outside the community market. The TEC is then adopted by the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament. It can then evolve, depending on the economic context, and can be suspended, or even deleted if a free trade agreement came to light between the European Union and a third country (Canada, Mercosur, etc.).
