Ep. 109 – Imports/Exports: Tariffs 101

Trade.  Trade Wars.  Economic Sanctions.  Tariffs.  These are terms you hear nightly on the evening news but what are they?  The Founding Fathers saw a need for our country to regulate international commerce–both leaving and coming into our country–as a tool to protect and advance our country's interests.  One of the tools they gave Congress is the power to levy a tariff, or a tax on an imported item.  But who bears the burden on that tax, the country sending that good or the country importing it?  Our guest argues empirical evidence overwhelmingly shows the importer bears that burden so tariffs seldom punish trading partners but rather the consumer.  Join our guest, Christine McDaniel, Senior Fellow with the Mercatus Center, and our panel for this insight into economic policies behind the goods we buy and sell.