Tariff, tariff, tariff the most beautiful word in the dictionary

“Tariff” is the word of the moment. All we are hearing at the moment is “tarff, tariff, tariff” after Trump has announced he is imposing tariffs on friends and foe alike—China, Canada, Mexico, the European Union and, of course, Australia. And it is not new for the rest of the world to think that “with friends like Trump who needs enemies”. That sentiment was stated by European Union President Donald Tusk in 2018 while he also slammed Trump’s “capricious assertiveness”.

Tariff the most beautiful word in the dictionary

Indeed Donald Trump has said:

“To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff, and it’s my favorite [sic] word.”

History of “tariff”

Tariffs have shaped global trade for millenia, influencing economies, and creating powerful empires based on the perk of controlling trade or trade routes.

“Tariff” derives originally from Arabic “ta’arifeh”. It is a noun formed from the verb “arafa” meaning to know. A ta’arifeh was a list of things that you needed to know. It was also used specifically for a price list by merchants and sailors around the Mediterranean ports in the 15^th and 16^th centuries.

These price lists included the taxes imposed by local governments on the goods leaving or entering ports of trade. These levies have existed in Europe at least from the times of the Roman Empire. The Romans did not tax Mediterranean trade but taxed all goods arriving through non-Mediterranean ports—that is, from outside the Empire’s frontiers. The standard rate was between 12.5 to 25 percent of the goods estimated value.

Through medieval trade and its network, “tariff” passed into English and other European languages. It has two different and closely related meanings in European languages. One refers to prices or rates in general and the other refers to the tax on imported goods. In French a tarif is any price list, so that when you ask for a taxi fare list your use “les tarifs des taxis whereas a tariff in the sense of an import duty is a droit de douane.

In English it refers to the tax on imported goods.

How long will the tariffs last?

As with all Trump actions there are those loyal followers that think his ideas are clever disruptions to the status quo. But there are also those that think that his ideas are naïve, populist policies appealing to a disenchanted MAGA constituency.

However, his MAGA supporters may not quite agree with the Trump idea: Tariff the most beautiful word in the dictionary. They likely will see their cost of living going up. Importers of goods and materials having to pay extra will have to pass their increased costs to US consumers. Some economic modelling suggests Trump’s tariffs will cost the average American household $7,000 per year. Perhaps “free trade” might start to sound better.

New word for tariff

What I am looking forward to are the words that will be used to misinform and shift blame that will occur at the mid-term elections. Then US people will be muddling through higher costs of living and, what some pundits, are suggesting will be a likely recession. There will be some new favourite words being used then I suspect and one of them won’t be “tariff”.