Who pays the tariffs on imports on foreign steel into the United States? How does the payee deal with the additional costs that the tariffs represent?

Question

Related to the American steel tariffs.

Answer 1

Importing businesses directly pay the tariff to the government, but normally end up passing much of the burden of the tariff to their consumers in the form of higher prices. In some instances, the exporting firms might lower their prices to absorb some of the tariff and not see a drastic decline in the number of units sold.

However, as long as the price to consumers increases after the tariff (the normal result), the number of units imported will be lower.