Amazon is booming, and Amazon is essentially a Chinese market.
Also, at least 1/3 of the sales on Amazon are from third-party sellers, and as many as half of those sellers are Chinese nationals.
If you are thinking of importing goods into China, depending on the nature of the product, you can expect an import duty ranging from 0% to 35%, a VAT of 17%, and/or a consumption tax of from 5% to 10%.
We’re living in a crazy world. Did you know Mott’s Apple Juice is a product of China?
For those of us non-economically inclined people, what does this mean in practical terms and is it good or bad?
Part of this increase in the deficit are short term effects, as Chinese shipments were rushed in before the first tariffs went into effect on 6 July, and as the ChiComs harassed some US shipments with administrative delays, as a negotiating pressure tactic.
I am guessing that tariffs will be rolled out in waves over the next couple of years to allow time for adjustment, and will significantly improve the trade deficit with China before the 2020 election.
It is six months from announcement until enactment of tariffs, and months or years for purchasers to shift to new suppliers (a few months for most things). It is a multi-year effort, that began in earnest at the beginning of this year (2018), after the US economy had been prepared with tax cuts and deregulation, to be able to pick up the production opportunities from displacing communist Chinese manufacturers.
In before the tariffs
Because they are dumping