Speaker 1: Tariffs are everywhere. Countries are adding them, removing them, and
Speaker 1: arguing about them. But what are tariffs and how do
Speaker 1: they affect us? In this English lesson, you're going to
Speaker 1: learn the key vocabulary all about tariffs, and also learn
Speaker 1: about them too, so that the next time you turn
Speaker 1: on the news and the topic is on the subject,
Speaker 1: you'll be able to understand and you'll be able to
Speaker 1: use them in conversation. Let's start by talking about what
Speaker 1: tariffs are and key phrases to learn right from the start.
Speaker 1: So a tariff is a tax placed on goods imported
Speaker 1: from another country. So some key vocabulary here are imports
Speaker 1: and exports and taxes. I'll leave a glossary in the
Speaker 1: description so you can learn these. But let's start with
Speaker 1: a simple example. Imagine the US by steel from China,
Speaker 1: but the US government adds a twenty five percent tariff.
Speaker 1: That means Chinese steel becomes twenty five percent more expensive
Speaker 1: unless the Chinese steel companies reduce their prices. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about the reasons that countries are adding tariffs later, but
Speaker 1: first here are some more examples. If the US has
Speaker 1: tariffs on European cheese, this means that the imported cheese
Speaker 1: costs more, so people in the US might make different choices.
Speaker 1: And if there are tariffs on smartphones, then these imported
Speaker 1: phones become more expensive than local phones. European countries have
Speaker 1: tariffs too, so there are tariffs or there were tariffs
Speaker 1: on American made cars, meaning that cars bought in the
Speaker 1: EU from America were more expensive than cars assembled or
Speaker 1: cars made in Europe. Often when we're talking about this,
Speaker 1: we're going to use the passive voice, Okay, so we
Speaker 1: can use the passive voice to explain this a little
Speaker 1: bit more. For example, tariffs are added to imported goods,
Speaker 1: So we can use this to make tariffs the focus
Speaker 1: and say tariffs are added to imported goods. Another one
Speaker 1: is taxes are collected by the government. Taxes are collected
Speaker 1: by the government, And another example is prices are increased
Speaker 1: to protect local businesses. So that is the simple explanation
Speaker 1: of what tariffs are. It's basically a tax on imports
Speaker 1: to make them more expensive. But why do governments want
Speaker 1: to use tariffs? At the moment, a lot of tariffs
Speaker 1: being added are comeing from the United States, and at
Speaker 1: the moment as well, the United States is trying to
Speaker 1: make trade deals with other countries, and a lot of
Speaker 1: this seems to be political, but there are other reasons
Speaker 1: why countries add tariffs. The first reason, and this is
Speaker 1: not just related to the US but just in general.
Speaker 1: The first reason is to protect local jobs, So to
Speaker 1: protect local jobs and local industries. And when we're talking
Speaker 1: about this, we often use modal verbs for possibility of
Speaker 1: something happening. So instead of just saying it happens, like
Speaker 1: tariffs protect local jobs, you can use the word can,
Speaker 1: or might or could, So you might want to use
Speaker 1: these types of modal verbs instead by saying tariffs can
Speaker 1: protect local jobs. Tariffs might protect local jobs. But the
Speaker 1: idea is that, let's say imported clothes from Asia are
Speaker 1: cheaper than clothes made in the UK. British factories won't
Speaker 1: do as well because people tend to buy clothes based
Speaker 1: on price, so if they are cheaper coming from Asia,
Speaker 1: then people will just choose those clothes instead those tea,
Speaker 1: shir and genes, et cetera. But let's say the UK
Speaker 1: government adds a tariff which means that these now are
Speaker 1: more expensive from Asia, clothes in the UK or made
Speaker 1: in the UK remain competitive or will become competitive, which
Speaker 1: will do two things. Firstly, prices go up, so because
Speaker 1: there are no more cheaper clothes, prices will increase. However,
Speaker 1: there will be more jobs created and the British factories
Speaker 1: and British companies will do better. So the idea is
Speaker 1: that it's going to protect local jobs. The second reason
Speaker 1: is to raise government money to bring in more tax revenue.
Speaker 1: Now there is a big debate about where this money
Speaker 1: comes from, and from what I know, it mainly comes
Speaker 1: from the consumer. So the consumer will end up paying
Speaker 1: more for the imported goods, but the government sees this
Speaker 1: as revenue and it's like a tax on the goods.
Speaker 1: And then at the moment, it seems to me like
Speaker 1: the biggest reason governments are talking and introducing tariffs at
Speaker 1: the moment is for political reasons, and this can sometimes
Speaker 1: be called a trade war. So countries use tariffs to
Speaker 1: pressure other countries. And we've seen this a lot over
Speaker 1: the past six months, where the US has introduced tariffs
Speaker 1: and then they have got into negotiations with other countries.
Speaker 1: But we've also seen other countries respond by introducing their
Speaker 1: own tariffs on the US too. So a great phrase
Speaker 1: for you to learn is tariffs can protect jobs, but
Speaker 1: they also make goods more expensive. Now, let's talk about
Speaker 1: how tariffs affect everyday people, and we talked about it
Speaker 1: a little bit in the last section, but the main
Speaker 1: idea is that these tariffs aren't just about governments. They
Speaker 1: also affect consumers too. Now, in economics, people talk about
Speaker 1: consumers is just people who buy things, so it's in context.
Speaker 1: But an example is, let's say there's a temper se
Speaker 1: tariff on all electronics coming into the country. This means
Speaker 1: if you want to buy a new laptop, is going
Speaker 1: to cost one hundred dollars more if the laptop was
Speaker 1: one thousand dollars. If there are tariffs on't imported fruit,
Speaker 1: then oranges and bananas are going to cost more in
Speaker 1: the supermarket. Now, there's a business reaction here too, from
Speaker 1: businesses who have consumers in a specific country but their
Speaker 1: factory is abroad because a big part of doing these tariffs,
Speaker 1: or at least that's what they're saying, is to move
Speaker 1: more factories back to the US. So if the US
Speaker 1: has a tariff and it's really high, then the company
Speaker 1: will say we will make these products now in the
Speaker 1: US to avoid tariffs. So for example, a car company
Speaker 1: might build a plant a factory in the US to
Speaker 1: avoid the tariffs so that their car becomes more competitive. However,
Speaker 1: there's an important thing to know here as well, which
Speaker 1: is called the supply chain. Now, the supply chain just
Speaker 1: means where the parts of the car, for example, are made.
Speaker 1: Another example is a phone might use screens from South
Speaker 1: Korea a chip from another country, but it is assembled
Speaker 1: in China. So this brings in complexity to tariffs, and
Speaker 1: this is one of the reasons why certain people think
Speaker 1: they're not a great idea when it comes to trade.
Speaker 1: So the supply chain is simply just talking about whether
Speaker 1: different parts of a product are created and how they
Speaker 1: all come together to be assembled. Let's now talk about
Speaker 1: some vocabulary and expressions about trade, because this is going
Speaker 1: to really help you understand the topic more in terms
Speaker 1: of learning the right words and phrases for English and
Speaker 1: also help you talk about this topic. Now. The first
Speaker 1: one is called free trade. Free trade. Now, free trade
Speaker 1: is where countries trade with no tariffs or restrictions, and
Speaker 1: a good example of this is the EU. So there
Speaker 1: are various countries in the EU and this is a
Speaker 1: free trade area, so there are no tariffs or restrictions
Speaker 1: from countries like Spain, Germany, and France. Another useful expression
Speaker 1: here is to retaliate retaliate, and to retaliate means to
Speaker 1: respond with an action. So, for example, if one country
Speaker 1: raises tariffs, the other country often retaliates. We've seen this
Speaker 1: over the last few months where one country has raised
Speaker 1: tariffs and then the country has retaliated by raising tariffs
Speaker 1: on that country too. Another great phrase to know is
Speaker 1: trade deficit trade deficit. If a country has a trade deficit,
Speaker 1: this is when the country imports more than it exports,
Speaker 1: so it brings more goods into the country than it
Speaker 1: sells to the other countries. A great example of this
Speaker 1: is the US and a lot of other countries have
Speaker 1: a large trade deficit with China, and this is because
Speaker 1: China has become the factory center of the world. And
Speaker 1: now what we're going to talk about is some conditional
Speaker 1: sentences because this is perfect for tariffs, as we're talking
Speaker 1: about possibilities and also real future possibilities. For example, if
Speaker 1: tariffs go up, prices will go up. If tariffs go up,
Speaker 1: prices will go up. So this is saying that the
Speaker 1: price is dependent on the tariff. If tariffs go up
Speaker 1: on imported cars, consumers will pay more. If tariffs go
Speaker 1: up on imported cars, consumers will pay more. And we
Speaker 1: can also use might in a conditional sentence to talk
Speaker 1: about a possibility. An example might be if countries keep
Speaker 1: raising tariffs, it might start a trade war. If countries
Speaker 1: keep raising tariffs, it might start to trade war. So
Speaker 1: this is saying that this is a possibility for the future,
Speaker 1: and we can use might here to help us state that.
Speaker 1: We can also use the second conditional here too. For example,
Speaker 1: if tariffs were lower, consumers would save money. If tariffs
Speaker 1: were lower, consumers would save money. This is a hypothetical
Speaker 1: and non real example. And then let's look at some
Speaker 1: idioms now related to this topic. So the first one
Speaker 1: is pick up the tab. Pick up the tab, which
Speaker 1: means to pay for something, often when it's expensive. So
Speaker 1: for example, shoppers are the ones who pick up the
Speaker 1: tab when tariffs are raised, So shoppers are the ones
Speaker 1: who pick up the tab. They are the ones who
Speaker 1: pay for something. You'll also hear the term hit the wallet,
Speaker 1: hit the wallet, and you'll often hear political commentators use
Speaker 1: this one. For example, tariffs have hit people's wallets hard
Speaker 1: this year. Tariffs have hit people's whilets hard this year.
Speaker 1: This means to affect someone in a negative way in
Speaker 1: terms of price. Another one using my name is jack
Speaker 1: up the prices to jack up the prices, and this
Speaker 1: means to raise prices suddenly and sharply. For example, companies
Speaker 1: had to jack up the prices after tariffs were introduced.
Speaker 1: Companies had to jack up the prices after tariffs were introduced,
Speaker 1: so they had to raise prices suddenly and sharply. And
Speaker 1: another one is tighten your belt to tighten your belt,
Speaker 1: which means to spend less money because things are more expensive.
Speaker 1: For example, people are tightening their belts because of higher
Speaker 1: grocery costs. People are tightening their belts because of higher
Speaker 1: grocery costs. A topic that is similar to tariffs is inflation.
Speaker 1: If you'd like me to make a lesson on inflation,
Speaker 1: let me know in the comments. And what to do
Speaker 1: now is to check the description and look at all
Speaker 1: of the phrases we've used in this English lesson, and
Speaker 1: then watch another lesson, which if you're on YouTube, is
Speaker 1: on your screen. If you're on Apple or Spotify, then
Speaker 1: check the description for that 'll just go back and
Speaker 1: listen to more podcasts. Thanks for listening and watching, and
Speaker 1: speech you soon Bye for now.