Explain how the imposition of a tariff may affect the volume of imports

AQA A-Level Economics Paper 2 June 2020

Extract E (lines 10–11) states: ‘US tariffs on $200bn of Chinese imports came into effect in September.’ With the help of a diagram, explain how the imposition of a tariff may affect the volume of imports. (9 marks)

1. a tariff is a tax on imports.
2. it is a form of protectionism.
3. the diagram shows the market for textiles in Brazil.
4. world supply is perfectly elastic to represent the infinite number of producers of textiles around the world, relative to Brazil.
5. a tariff causes the cost of importing a textile to increase.
6. this is shown by a left shift in world supply.
7. this causes the price of goods and services such as textiles to increase from p1 to p2.
8. this causes a contraction along the domestic demand curve and an expansion along the domestic supply curve.
9. this causes the output of textiles in Brazil to increase from q1 to q3.
10. extract f line 14 mentions that 'uncompetitive industries, from textiles to computers, were able to grow due to protectionist trade policies that made foreign goods too expensive to import'.
11. the tariff also causes the volume of imports to fall from q1-q2 to q3-q4

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