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Single malt Scotch whisky targeted by United States tariffs

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Re: Single malt Scotch whisky targeted by United States tariffs

#51

Maybe a silly question but it seems these big high ticket businesses like Boeing and Airbus cannot provide affordable aircraft and survive without some government intervention and the bar to entry is too high for new players so why not come to some international agreement on how they are supported by government instead? It's seems better to have 2 manufacturers supported by government than to have only 1 that essenti…

Boeing contends otherwise:

> Myth: Aerospace is different from other industries and requires some level of government support.

> Fact: Boeing has proven otherwise. We have financed all of our new airplane programs without the kind of government handout that launch aid represents.

http://www.boeing.com/company/key-orgs/government-operations...

Re: Single malt Scotch whisky targeted by United States tariffs

#52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you have any sources listing total tariffs on each side? I tried searching, but couldn’t find anything.

> The EU imposes a 10 percent tariff on passenger cars, compared with the 2.5 percent U.S. duty on European autos. A study by the CESifo Institute in Germany found unweighted average EU tariffs of 5.2 percent, compared with the U.S. rate of 3.5 percent. “The EU is by no means the paradise for free traders that it likes to think,” Gabriel Felbermayr, director of the think tank’s Center for International Economics, tol…

The US has a 25% tariff on light trucks and 2d SUVs since 1964. As manufacturers tried different ways to circumvent the US government has closed these loopholes. The most famous is Ford Transit vans were shipped to the US with seats in an exempt configuration. In Baltimore the seats were removed before delivery to dealers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

Re: Single malt Scotch whisky targeted by United States tariffs

#53

> "The US was given the go-ahead to impose tariffs on $7.5bn (£6.1bn) of goods it imports from the EU following a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling on Wednesday." After reading this, I had the stupid question: Couldn't producers of tariffed goods in an EU country send their goods to a shipping hub of a nearby non-EU country to change the country of origin to avoid the tariffs? Example: Could or could not Scottish…

That’s what they did for Russian sanctions. We had nice prawns, freshly caught in Belarus. Belarus is a magical place, we also had some oranges and other tropical fruits from there. Suddenly it became a major producer of cheese and so on ;-)

Re: Single malt Scotch whisky targeted by United States tariffs

#54
post #41

> "The US was given the go-ahead to impose tariffs on $7.5bn (£6.1bn) of goods it imports from the EU following a World Trade Organisation (WTO) ruling on Wednesday." After reading this, I had the stupid question: Couldn't producers of tariffed goods in an EU country send their goods to a shipping hub of a nearby non-EU country to change the country of origin to avoid the tariffs? Example: Could or could not Scottish…

It's the production location. Maybe you could ship it in barrels and bottle it in Mexico or something though.

If they “sell” it to a firm in Iceland and then said firm sells it to US does the same apply?

Re: Single malt Scotch whisky targeted by United States tariffs

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is essentially a WTO fine, per the article... the US won a case dating back to 2005. Regarding the effective price increase, it would likely be shared between consumer and producer. Truly, most of us will just switch from scotch to bourbon until this is cleared up (which is the purpose).

> Truly, most of us will just switch from scotch to bourbon until this is cleared up (which is the purpose). I'm gonna pass on that, bourbon is too sweet and tastes gross to me. I suspect if you like Scotch then Bourbon is probably a bad fit.

There is plenty of nice American non-bourbon whiskey. Japanese whiskey is also excellent.

At the same time, if you like the burning hospital taste, there’s no substitute for Islay Scotch.

Re: Single malt Scotch whisky targeted by United States tariffs

#56

The EU subsidized Airbus, which hurt the American company, Boeing. Therefore, all Americans have to pay 25% more for european wines, cheeses, and whiskey. How does this make any sense?

It's a pretty simple theory -- if Americans have to pay 25% more for certain European goods, then they will be incentivized to purchase those goods elsewhere, therefore hurting Europe. Of course, this assumes the goods are fungible; this could backfire if no suitable substitute exists for those goods.

Single Malt Whisky starts out at a high price point. I do not think that anyone that normally would spend $ on this is going to care. Not quite the correct item to tax. Find something that is not a luxury with an equivalent US product.

Re: Single malt Scotch whisky targeted by United States tariffs

#57

The EU subsidized Airbus, which hurt the American company, Boeing. Therefore, all Americans have to pay 25% more for european wines, cheeses, and whiskey. How does this make any sense?

It's a pretty simple theory -- if Americans have to pay 25% more for certain European goods, then they will be incentivized to purchase those goods elsewhere, therefore hurting Europe. Of course, this assumes the goods are fungible; this could backfire if no suitable substitute exists for those goods.

And considering Scotch whisky, it comes at a very peculiar time. The EU might be stopping to export Scotch whisky in 4 weeks from now :p. Not sure how this applies to Irish whisky though. As a consequence of the whisky boom of the recent years, the Irish whisky industry had a rebirth.

Re: Single malt Scotch whisky targeted by United States tariffs

#58

Maybe a silly question but it seems these big high ticket businesses like Boeing and Airbus cannot provide affordable aircraft and survive without some government intervention and the bar to entry is too high for new players so why not come to some international agreement on how they are supported by government instead? It's seems better to have 2 manufacturers supported by government than to have only 1 that essenti…

Boeing contends otherwise: > Myth: Aerospace is different from other industries and requires some level of government support. > Fact: Boeing has proven otherwise. We have financed all of our new airplane programs without the kind of government handout that launch aid represents. http://www.boeing.com/company/key-orgs/government-operations...

The WTO found that they were and are being illegally subsidized [1]. Maybe they're saying that they're not getting a particular type of subsidy.

But it's clear that both these companies are getting a ton of government contracts and have a special relationship with the US/EU.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-28/wto-issue...

Re: Single malt Scotch whisky targeted by United States tariffs

#59

Maybe a silly question but it seems these big high ticket businesses like Boeing and Airbus cannot provide affordable aircraft and survive without some government intervention and the bar to entry is too high for new players so why not come to some international agreement on how they are supported by government instead? It's seems better to have 2 manufacturers supported by government than to have only 1 that essenti…

Boeing contends otherwise: > Myth: Aerospace is different from other industries and requires some level of government support. > Fact: Boeing has proven otherwise. We have financed all of our new airplane programs without the kind of government handout that launch aid represents. http://www.boeing.com/company/key-orgs/government-operations...

Do you expect Boeing to come out and say they accept subsidies when their whole business model is to sue the competition?

https://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-boein...

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/boeings-historic-t...

Boeing doesn't necessarily get direct subsidies but they get hefty tax breaks. Boeing will almost certainly get bailed out by the feds if the MAX or 777X come close to bankrupting them.

Re: Single malt Scotch whisky targeted by United States tariffs

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a pretty simple theory -- if Americans have to pay 25% more for certain European goods, then they will be incentivized to purchase those goods elsewhere, therefore hurting Europe. Of course, this assumes the goods are fungible; this could backfire if no suitable substitute exists for those goods.

Single Malt Whisky starts out at a high price point. I do not think that anyone that normally would spend $ on this is going to care. Not quite the correct item to tax. Find something that is not a luxury with an equivalent US product.

This reasoning is only correct if the number of sales from rich people far exceeds those from poor/middle-class people. Since the latter group far outnumbers the former, I can't be sure that what you said is true.
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