Quote Originally Posted by Irine View Post
So if you read the article in the Gleaner this morning apparently the US thinks they have the right to sell chicken in Jamaica. They also state the prices would be so low that local producers would have trouble competing. I personally hope Jamaica finds a way to use every scrap of local supply before they purchase anything from outside the country from anyone. To further the conversation I just want to briefly explain the US softwood dispute with Canada. In a nut shell the US cannot produce enough lumber to meet the demand, so they purchase the rest from Canada. Canada however produces lumber for less than their US equivalents can. To protect US lumber manufacturers the US imposed a softwood tax requiring Canada to pay an import tax on the lumber they send to the US which basically makes the US producers competitive. So Canada pays the US to sell them lumber, a fight in the courts going on for many years as the free trade agreement states all countries should have the right to sell their goods abroad without penalty.
The US is stating they have the right to sell chicken in Jamaica. I say the Jamaican government should charge them an import tax to make the local suppliers competitive. The US uses this strategy elsewhere in the world of trade, I think it's only fair.


http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/l...ts-quality-and
The article is interesting, pointing out that US Poultry Exporters are taking out ads to convince Jamaicans that their chickens are healthy, safe and tasty. That kinda says a lot about how the Jamaicans perceive imported chickens. As far as competing, the article states that people on social media are claiming the prices will be too low to compete. I dont think that is the current government position. But if that is the case, then Jamaica would impose a tax known as a tariff on the imported chicken which the Jamaican importer would pay, not the US exporter.

The same is true with the Canadian lumber issue. This issue has been going on since the 80's and the US importers pay the tariff (tax), not the Canadian supplier.

As we have discussed here many times when discussing customs duties, tariffs are nothing new. Early empires had some form of duties/tariffs. A country uses them to bring about the best trade results for their respective countries. From a country veiwpoint, if your export attracts a tariff, you complain to try and get a reduced or removed tariff because that is in your best interest. If you are the importing country, a tariff can be imposed to limit the amount imported to artificially keep the price high so as to not destroy your domestic industries.

There are many reasons why tariffs are imposed, but in the end, it all comes down to what a country thinks is in its best interest. For those interested in more, here is an interesting article from NASDAQ.

https://www.nasdaq.com/article/there...trade-cm768119