International Trade, Tariffs and Non-Tariff Barriers

International Trade, Tariffs and Non-Tariff Barriers

https://willempost.substack.com/publish/post/178260716

By Willem Post

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Introduction

Global trade plays a vital role in developing global economic growth, but it is also changed by various restrictions and guidelines. Nations frequently impose tariff and non-tariff barriers to protect local industries, control the shipping of goods, and confirm agreement with international export regulations. These measures impact logistics, customs clearance support, and overall supply chain efficiency. Businesses engaging in international shipping solutions must guide these barriers carefully, frequently depending on freight forwarding services, customs brokerage, and comprehensive import-export support to maintain smooth operations.

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Types of Tariff Barriers

Tariffs are direct taxes imposed on imported goods. The most common types include:

• Some Tariffs: A decided fee charged per unit of imported goods.

• Ad Valorem: A percentage of the good’s value.

• Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQs): Lower tariffs on limited imports, with higher rates beyond set quantities.

These tariffs are frequently regulated under the Harmonized System Code (HS code) or HTS harmonized tariff schedules, which classify goods for the customs process. While tariffs increase government revenue, they also raise import costs, making goods more expensive for consumers and businesses. Importer of record services and exporter of record services frequently help organizations to manage tariff approval, confirming smooth customs clearance and reducing unwanted fees.

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Types of Non-Tariff Barriers

Non-tariff barriers are more complex and can mainly affect global trade. Examples include:

• Quotas and Import Licensing – limitation on the quantity of goods imported.

• Standards and Certifications – Technical requirements related to good safety, quality, or environmental effect.

• Customs Procedures – Shipping Delays or restrictions begin with regulatory import management.

• Subsidies – Financial support provided to local industries, reducing the complexities of global imports.

Businesses frequently require forwarders and customs brokerage partners to manage these challenges effectively. Non-tariff barriers also require regulatory systems such as Incoterms, delivery duty paid shipping, and DAP logistics, which define the commitments of buyers and vendors in global trade.

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Difference Between Tariff and Non-Tariff Barriers

The major difference depends on their approach:

• Tariff Barriers directly affect financial fees (duties and taxes) on imports.

• Non-Tariff Barriers create restrictions through laws, quotas, and standards rather than financial charges.

While tariffs are clear and measurable, non-tariff barriers can be unknown and frequently require special expertise in export customs brokerage and global supply chain services to overcome.

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Global Impact of Tariff and Non-Tariff Barriers

Both tariff and non-tariff barriers affect trade samples, competitiveness, and supply chain efficiency. For example, higher tariffs may protect local industries but disappoint global investment. Non-tariff barriers can delay shipments, increase agreement fees, and make international shipping solutions difficult.

The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) helps developing nations reduce tariff costs in some markets, encouraging just entry to global trade. Also, DAP and DAPs under Incoterms outline responsibilities in delivery, further impacting how organizations system logistics. Businesses frequently depend on freight forwarding services, customs clearance support, and regulatory import management to reduce the risks created by such barriers.

Also, both tariffs and non-tariff measures change global supply chains. Global organizations must accept comprehensive import-export support plans, including the use of Importer of Record Services, Exporter of Record services, and DDP shipping methods, to remain competitive while following international export regulations.

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Conclusion

Tariffs and non-tariff barriers are necessary tools in global trade guidelines. While they protect local economies, they also create difficulties for organizations working across borders. From tariffs officials by HS codes to difficult non-tariff measures requiring customs brokerage and logistics expertise, organizations must accept dependable forwarders, regulatory import management, and global supply chain services. Using international shipping solutions, comprehensive import-export support, and trade systems such as the Generalized System of Preferences, businesses can reduce risks, maintain agreements, and strengthen their role in global trade.

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THE US HAS LOPSIDED TRADE AGREEMENTS WITH ALMOST ALL “TRADING PARTNERS”

https://willempost.substack.com/p/the-us-has-lopsided-trade-agreeme...

By Willem Post

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Before NAFTA, Canada and Mexico always had annual trade deficits with the US
After NAFTA:

1) Canada and Mexico, with investments by European and Asian companies, have huge DUTY-FREE annual trade surpluses with the US.

2) Foreign (and US) companies shipped parts to Mexico and assembled cars, with their entire production shipped DUTY-FREE into the US.

That is Trojan Horse exploitation that is sucking wealth/jobs from the US.

3) Dutch companies shipped automated greenhouses, the size of airplane hangars, to Canada (which provides almost- free gas and electricity as an incentive), with almost their entire production shipped DUTY-FREE into the US.

That is Trojan Horse exploitation that is sucking wealth/jobs from the US

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Dutch/Belgian conglomerates own more than 50% of the food supermarkets on the US East Coast.

Aldi, a German company had 2559 US food supermarkets in July, 2025, also owns Trader Joe’s with 608 stores.

That means plenty of permanent shelf space for European farm goods to the disadvantage of US farmers.

 

Prior to the 1960s, the US had trade surpluses and high tariff barriers. Europe wanted more exports to the US to grow its economy. Kennedy became President in 1960 and lowered tariffs on European imports (Kennedy Round), without the US getting any lower tariffs and lower non-tariff barriers from Europe. Europe’s elite loved Kennedy. Other countries, with developing economies, followed Europe’s example.

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This ultimately led to: 1) the infamous US Rust Belt, and 2) a great weakening of US Labor Unions, and 3) foreign countries owning large chunks of the US economy, on which they make a profit and a rate of return, which gets shipped mostly out of the US. The end result is the US having increasingly larger trade deficits and balance of payment deficits.

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On July 1, 2020, NAFTA was replaced by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) 

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Free Trade?

Japan has a 700% tariff on US rice. India 100%.

Egypt 65% average tariff on all US goods. 

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On quantities in excess of quota, Canadian tariffs on US dairy products are: Milk up to 243%. Butter up to 298%, Cheese up to 245%. This screws US farmers, already for decades.

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Living in Vermont, we buy, throughout the year, electricity (GMP, Canada), propane (IRVING, Canada), gasoline (IRVING, Canada), and vegetables and flowers (Hanneford, Dutch/Belgium)

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Perot, a Texas businessman, predicted NAFTA would be sucking tens of $billions of wealth and millions of jobs out of the US. Deluded, brainwashed Americans laughed at Perot at that time.

CBS News “reported” 70,500 American factories (millions of jobs lost) have closed since the start of NAFTA

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Trump is doing the right thing with tariffs to increase US production of goods and services for domestic use and export,

that will employ tens of millions of workers, build strong families and communities, and will reduce imports of goods and services, and will transform decades of wealth/job-sucking trade deficits into trade surpluses to MAGA

German Economist: Trump Tariffs are Saving the US

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/german-economist-trump...

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US HAS TRADE DEFICITS WITH MANY COUNTRIES

https://willempost.substack.com/p/us-has-trade-deficits-with-many-c...

Willem Post

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Hindsight is 20/20, but Bill Clinton’s decision to admit China into the WTO ranks among the greatest strategic blunders in modern history. Everything he promised would happen turned out to be the exact opposite.

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If Europe, China, etc., do not like US tariffs, why do they have their own tariffs and non-tariff barriers?

In response to US tariffs:

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- Vietnam finally reduced its tariffs to ZERO, but that is no big deal, because its sales to the US were $136.6 billion, and it bought from the US $13.1 billion, in 2024.

 

- Taiwan wants to reduce its tariffs to ZERO, but that is not a big deal, because its sales to the US were $116.26 billion, but it bought from the US $42.34 billion, in 2024.

 

- Countries with trade surpluses should think first and act after. They should:

 

1) Not retaliate with tariffs, and

2) Eliminate tariff barriers and non-tariff barriers, and

3) Buy more US goods and services to reduce their trade surpluses to zero.

https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Vietna...

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Europe Colludes with Others to Obstruct Trump’s Tariffs

Europe is arranging and coordinating a group of ideological allies to collude with counter sanctions.  Those allies include Canada and to a lesser extent, Mexico.  Trump is onto their collusion. He said, if Europe colludes with Canada to harm the US, higher US tariffs will be placed on both of them.

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Finally, the US is lucky to have a hard-nosed businessman in the White House, who cannot be $bought, instead of a senile, grifting/grafting, dysfunctional marionette, or, God-forbid, an inane, cackling word salad.

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/international-trade-is...

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When will woke Euro elites finally admit, increased CO2 ppm, an essential, life-creating gas, is needed to grow more flora and fauna, and increase crop yields to feed 8 billion people?

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/co2-has-a-very-minor-r...

https://www.windtaskforce.org/profiles/blogs/we-are-in-a-co2-famine

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How Effective are the US Tariffs?

US international trade of imports and exports of goods and services

January 2025: Exports: $269.8 b; Imports: $401.2 b; Deficit: $131.4 b 

February 2025: Exports: $278.0 b; Imports: $401.1 b; Deficit: $123.1 b 

March 2025; Exports: $281.1 b; Imports: $419.4 b; Deficit: $138.3 b 

April 2025: Exports: $289.4 b; Imports: $351.0 b; Deficit: $61.6 b

May 2025; Exports: $278 b; Imports: $350.3; Deficit: $71.5 b

June 2025, Exports: $277.3 b; Imports: $337.5 b; Deficit: $60.2 b

July 2025, Exports $280.5 b; Imports $358.8 b; Deficit: $78.3 b

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Trump imposed the following tariffs on Europe: Steel and Aluminum 50%; Imported cars 25%; Other sectors: Investigations were launched into pharmaceuticals, copper, and other sectors to potentially impose further tariffs 

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In response, Europe, Japan, Korea, etc., have maintained prices of its cars to avoid losing US market share. However, Ford Motor's total sales are up 6.1% to 930,925 vehicles sold compared with the first five months of 2024.

Ford assembles 80% of its cars in the US. General Motors and Stellantis about 55%

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GM recently announced plans to spend $4 billion to retool the 1) Orion Assembly Plant in Michigan, 2) Fairfax Assembly Plant in Kansas, and 3) Spring Hill Manufacturing in Tennessee, which would add some 300,000 units of production back to America. Domestic production could increase from 60% to 75% of US demand by 2030, due to tariffs, according to Barron’s.

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EUROPE IN BIG DO-DO, DUE TO EXCESSIVE WIND/SOLAR/BATTERIES; HIGH COST OF ENERGY AND MATERIALS

https://willempost.substack.com/p/europe-in-big-do-do?r=1n3sit&...

By Willem Post

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Europe is in poor shape. It has a decreasing/stagnant GDP, stagnant real wages, major civil unrest, and tens of millions of incompatible, subversive, walk-ins, who will undermine, instead of fight for traditional European values and culture.
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Euro elites, having lost the wind/solar “climate war”, need a new enemy to distract and unify the people.

Euro elites doing Russo-phobic, saber rattling to aid Ukraine is empty posturing, without the US “backstop”

Russia, with a growing GDP, despite sanctions, a unified people, gaining on the battlefield, would just roll over and play dead?

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Trump would be an idiot to agree to prolonging the Russia-Ukraine conflict with the US “backstop”, as demanded by the UK, because it would be a major drain on US finances for years, and a huge distraction regarding MAGA.

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However, the Deep State and in Congress, most Democrats and some Republicans would love it. 
Musk is getting close to divulge how many of these Members of Congress are outperforming investment professionals on Wall Street. They have no problem defending/financing corrupt Ukraine, an undemocratic state, where:

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1) Elections were canceled (also in Rumania), or stolen (also in Moldova), and Le Pen was sidelined in France

2) The Russian Orthodox Church was banned,

3) Political opponents were silenced/tortured/killed,

4) The USAID-subsidized pro-Ukraine media were put under total government control, “because of martial law”

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GERMANY, THE UK, FRANCE, ETC., IN CHAOTIC DE-GROWTH MODE   

https://willempost.substack.com/p/germany-the-uk-france-etc-are-in?...

By Willem Post

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Europe is in deep trouble because of:

 

1) Uncontrolled immigration,

2) Economic stagnation, due to excessive-reliance on wind and solar, and expensive energy and materials imports

3) Rising government and personal debt,

4) Increased defense spending, due to a gross lack of defense capability against “fearsome enemies”,

5) High youth unemployment, due to a lack of suitable skills, especially among immigrants.

6) Increased spending on expensive household and industrial/commercial electricity and

7) Society-destabilizing, undemocratic censorship.

 

The Euro elites have forced populations to put up with, and pay for, tens of millions of unvetted walks-ins, who make minimal contributions, cause maximal trouble, crime and chaos, all while sucking from the government tit.

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The woke elites in Europe and the US are pre-maturely closing, already-paid-for, in-good-working-order, nuclear plants.

The woke elites have banned:

1) Oil and gas fracking projects,

2) Gas/oil pipelines,

3) Gas/oil storage systems near power plants, and

4) New energy exploration projects, as part of "leaving it in the ground"

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The US should not bail out Europe by exporting its valuable coal, oil and LNG.

The US should use them to make more products and services for domestic use and exports.

That way the US would reduce imports and increase exports, which would rapidly decrease our decades of wealth/job-sucking trade deficits, and would employ tens of millions of additional US workers, which would strengthen families and communities.

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The very important results of DOGE are not reported by the leftist, USAID-subsidized, Corporate US Media, but the criticisms of DOGE are reported 24/7/365.

The people in New England, the US and Europe are permanently kept in the dark, already for at least 5 decades, or more.

The Social-Media, by gaining eyeballs, is quickly ending the Corporate-Media monopoly, which is losing eyeballs. 

But the Euro elites are hell-bent to put social media in straight-jackets ASAP, because they provide a public forum for free speech.

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Trade Deficits, Balance-of-Payment Deficits, Debt

Trump is trying to reduce 50 years of trade deficits and balance-of-payment deficits.
Trump is trying to reduce decades of waste fraud and abuse in the federal government, which leads to deficit spending, due to no controls, computers not talking to each other, ancient software systems.
Trump is trying to undo the open border bull crap, DEI bull crap, gender bull crap, etc.

Without a doubt, this means stepping on many people’s toes.
Would you rather have 10 years of 1930s-style depression?

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Deficit spending and printing Treasury bonds to “paper” the deficit is inflationary, because that “out-of-thin-air money” comes with an interest rate and a national debt.
Right now, the interest on the national debt is more than ONE $TRILLION PER YEAR.
That interest is “paid for” with printing more Treasury bonds to “paper” the interest.
On and on it goes, whistling past the graveyard, stretching the rubber band.
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Very often, many of our wealth/job-sucking trading “partners” use the money of their trade surpluses to: 1) buy Treasury bonds, 2) buy US companies, 3) invest in their own export industries to increase exports, 4) pay benefits to retirees, etc.
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Example of “Rules-Based” Rip-Off
Trading partners charge high prices for auto parts sent to Mexico, then assemble these “expensive” parts in their Mexico assembly plants, then ship whole cars to their dealerships into the US, DUTY FREE.
That way minimal tax is paid on near-zero profits reported in the US, maximum profits are reported in home countries, and maximum taxes are paid on these profits to home governments. Our trading “partners” love this racket.
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All of that has nothing to do with “quantitative easing”, i.e., the Federal Reserve declaring it has money, which it loans to banks and other financial entities that over-extended themselves on issuing dubious loans, such as MBOs, etc.
The US is in very deep debt-do-do. Europe trading “partners” aim to keep the US in its debt do-do, while professing “to be helpful” They support the US providing the most of A-to-Z to Ukraine, while providing as little as possible themselves.