up to date! Australia announced that it will cancel tariffs on nearly 500 products! The largest unilateral tariff reform in 20 years!-United Petroleum Equipment Co., Ltd

up to date! Australia announced that it will cancel tariffs on nearly 500 products! The largest unilateral tariff reform in 20 years!

time 2024-03-12 12:42:55 source：

According to media reports, the Australian government announced on March 11 that it will permanently cancel nearly 500 tariffs on a range of imported products starting from July 1 .

Relevant imported products include household necessities such as toothbrushes, tools, refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, toasters, electric blankets, hygiene products and clothing.

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said this was the largest unilateral tariff reform in at least 20 years.

Chalmers said in a statement that the elimination of tariffs will streamline annual trade worth nearly 8.5 billion Australian dollars (about 5.62 billion U.S. dollars) and save businesses more than 30 million Australian dollars in annual compliance costs, and will increase the number of tariffs over the next four years. The cost of living for Australian families has dropped by more than $120 million.

Chalmers calls these tariffs "nuisance tariffs." According to the definition given by the WTO, "nuisance tariffs" are tariffs that are so low that the cost to the government of imposing them is greater than the revenue they generate. Sometimes such tariffs offer no protection.

Chalmers said that at present, these "nuisance tariffs" make related imported products more expensive and increase the government's administrative costs, but do nothing to protect Australian businesses and workers. In turn, businesses and workers must also deal with the red tape involved with these tariffs and incur compliance costs, which are often passed on to consumers.

Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on the 7th showed that Australia’s foreign trade surplus increased by 284 million Australian dollars in January to approximately 11.027 billion Australian dollars. Among them, the import value increased by approximately 1.3% month-on-month to approximately 36.483 billion Australian dollars. The main factor driving growth was the import of non-industrial transportation equipment.

Chalmers announced a total of four measures to modernize the economy on the 11th. In addition to canceling about 500 "nuisance tariffs," other measures involve three areas: approval process, financial supervision and mergers and acquisitions. He said Australia would clarify and improve its regulatory approval process to provide direction and certainty to the financial industry and work towards better ways of evaluating mergers and acquisitions. These initiatives will reduce compliance costs, ease the burden on businesses and increase their productivity.