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Who Pays for the Tariffs and Why? A Tale of Two Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Chaonan Feng
  • Liyan Han
  • Lei Li

Abstract

During the U.S.-China trade war, the U.S. punitive tariffs were almost entirely borne by U.S. importers. In contrast, only 68% of China’s retaliatory tariffs were paid by Chinese importers. The puzzling difference between the U.S. and China is mainly driven by their different import structures and product heterogeneity in tariff pass-through. China mainly imported products with lower tariff pass-through from the U.S., such as agricultural products and aircraft, while the U.S. primarily imported products with higher tariff pass-through from China, such as electronics. Furthermore, we decompose the product-level tariff pass-through and show that a higher ratio of import demand elasticity over export supply elasticity leads to lower tariff pass-through under perfect competition.

Suggested Citation

  • Chaonan Feng & Liyan Han & Lei Li, 2023. "Who Pays for the Tariffs and Why? A Tale of Two Countries," CESifo Working Paper Series 10497, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10497
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    trade war; tariff pass-through; import structure; product heterogeneity; demand elasticity; supply elasticity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F13 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Trade Policy; International Trade Organizations
    • F14 - International Economics - - Trade - - - Empirical Studies of Trade
    • F61 - International Economics - - Economic Impacts of Globalization - - - Microeconomic Impacts

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