Other forms: tariffs
A tariff is the tax a country charges on goods crossing its border. Impose a tariff, tariff barriers, a ten per cent tariff.
It is paid by the importer and passed on in the price, which is the point most often lost in argument about them: tariffs are paid at home. They protect domestic producers and raise costs for everybody else. A tariff is also a price list, and in British law a minimum sentence. Note that the word came through Italian from Arabic.
1nountariffThe tax a country charges on imported goods.
“The government raised the tariff on imported cars to protect local factories.”
2nounpublishedA published list of charges.
“The hotel's tariff for a double room is shown at reception.”
tariff is a charge.
Italian tariffa comes from Arabic tarif, a notification. It meant a list of duties before it meant the duty itself.
Arabic
تَعْرِيف — notification, explanation
Italian
tariffa — arithmetical table; list of customs duties
English, today
tariff
From Italian tariffa (“arithmetical table; list of customs duties”), from Arabic تَعْرِيف (“notification, explanation”). Equivalent to Portuguese and Spanish tarifa and the French tarif and first attested in 1592.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Shopping & Money, Shipping & Logistics