Much of the distress over US President Trump’s new tariffs on imports to the US ignores the key fact that the new levies are reciprocal – intended to counter tariffs that other nations levy on US imports to them. If another country imposes, say, a 25% tariff on imported US goods, then a reciprocal tariff on imports from that nation to the US would also be 25%.
President Trump's tariffs for some countries are equal to those they levy on imports of US goods, while others are lower. But the essential purpose of these new tariffs is to dismantle, or at least restructure, the long-standing worldwide practice of taxing imports of US-produced goods (often quite heavily), while exporting domestically-produced goods to the US virtually tax free.
Curaçao charges a 10% tariff (or, equivalently, duty) on the importation of US goods. That tariff is now matched by Curaçao’s exports to the US. Given the small volume of Curaçao’s exports to the US, and the fact that most of its imports come from the EU anyway, it should consider dropping the tariff on US goods altogether. Who knows? Doing so right now might gain some significant political benefits.
More generally, Curaçao imposes duties ranging from 0 to 27% on a variety of consumer-use items. Replacement car parts are a good example. Curaçao doesn’t have a car-part manufacturing industry to protect so why does it impose such a high tariff?
The island’s import duties add up to 27% to the cost of those and other essential items, making everyday and critical goods more expensive for Curaçaoans than they need to be.
To be clear, tariffs are taxes and as the saying goes, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes”, but the taxes can be applied fairly by both sides.
Concerned Curaçao citizen
