A discussion paper published this month by the economy, politics and society (EPoS) research center at the Universities of Bonn and Mannheim calculated that American importers bore 93 percent of U.S. tariffs, while Chinese importers shouldered just 68 percent of China’s tariffs. U.S. exporters paid the other 32 percent, the researchers concluded.
“We analysed how the tariff burdens were shared between importers and exporters and got some surprising results,” Lei Li, assistant professor of applied microeconomics at the University of Mannheim and one of the paper’s three authors, said in a statement. “Chinese importers paid about two-thirds of China’s tariffs. Yet, U.S. importers shouldered 93 percent of price increases due to U.S. tariffs. Such a near-complete ‘pass-through’ is uncommon and astonishing given the power of the United States to influence terms of trade.”
The paper estimated that Chinese tariffs cost Chinese importers $180 million and $510 million per month in 2018 and 2019, respectively, while U.S. tariffs cost U.S. importers $1.21 billion and $2.47 billion per month over the same period.
Not exactly the intended result.
Hopefully other economists will look at & review the study and give their input as the veracity of the study.