A tariff is a tax on goods or services coming into a country. The cost is generally passed on to the consumer – meaning the imported goods or service become more expensive. The US government, however, repeatedly refers to tariffs, erroneously, as a tax on foreigners.
Now have a look at this fascinating video of how the US government intends to punish its trading partners.
The US has a trade surplus with Australia, we buy more goods and services from the United States than they do from us. For example Australia buys a significant amount of U.S.-made weapons, including a $7 billion deal for long-range missiles and plans for a $368 billion nuclear submarine program under AUKUS, with additional investments in various other defence projects. Sixty-Eight (68%) of all Australian arms come from the US. Yet the US government is still proposing to punish Australia by imposing a tariff of 10%. However since Australia does not sell much to the United States our traders get off quite lightly. Not so for our trading partners like Vietnam (45% tariff).
Of more concern to Australia is the tariff that the US has calculated to impose on China. The US government has adopted a very simplistic formula for calculating the tariff it wishes to impose on China. US buys more goods from China than it sells to them – there is a goods deficit of $295bn. The total amount of goods it buys from China is $440bn. Dividing 295 by 440 gets you to 67% and you divide that by two and round up. Therefore the tariff imposed on China is 34%
One reason the United States may be imposing this punishment is so that all of its weapons are manufactured in the united states and that it supplies most of the world with weapons. The military industrial complex is a very profitable business. Unless you count the human cost.
These bomb part are exported to the United States by Ferra Engineering at 344 New Clelveland Road, Tingalpa in Brisbane. These bomb parts are then fitted to F-35 fighters by Boeing that sells them to Israel. Israeli F-35s made in the US then flattened Gaza.
Outside parliament on Thursday night a Palestinian man challenged the Queensland government to come out against the genocide in his home city of Gaza. He made a simple request that the Australian government recognise Palestine and stop supporting Israel.
Ian Curr
5 April 2025