Thread by @DmitryOpines

1/ Discussion today EU's tariffs preventing UK citizens from accessing cheap African products.

You may be confused by the Twitter nerd-slap fight & people yelling about 'GSPs', 'EBAs' 'EPAs'.

I suggest skipping the echo chamber one and just checking yourself. Here's how 👇🏽

2/ To start, head on over to this website. It's the @EU_Commission's tariff calculator.

It's excellent, and @Trade_EU deserve plaudits for building it.

madb.europa.eu/madb/euTariffs…

3/ Now that you're here, pick a country you're interested in exports from. I've chosen South Africa, but you can pick any.

Then, click 'Find my Product Code'

4/ Clicking 'Find my product code' opens up this window to help you find the code for the product you're interested in.

You can either browse around using the drop down menus on the left, or just search for a word using the box on the top right.

5/ For this example, I searched for 'Naval Oranges' because apparently it's everyone's favorite go-to example.

That got me these search results, and I click 'Show in Tree.'

6/ That takes me back to this view, and I can see the Navel Oranges category highlighted.

Because Navel Oranges is a category with several products in it, I have to expand it (picture 1) until I find the actual product I want (picture 2).

So I click on 'High quality.'

7/ And I have my results!

The top line in the red box is the 'MFN applied rate'. The tariff (3.2%) paid on imports of high quality navel oranges from a WTO Member with no special deal.

The second line is the tariff on South African oranges (0%).

8/ You can use this tool to skip all the Twitter broohaha and look up products you care about, from countries you're interested in. I know it took 7 tweets to demonstrate, but it's easy to use.

Disclaimer: Tariffs never tell the full story, but they are a component.

9/ Shameless plug 1: As important as lower tariffs are for UK consumers, they can be vital for producers in developing countries.

@ICTSD_Bridges and @ICTSD_Africa do some incredible reporting on these issues, are free forever, and will make you smarter. Subscribe.

10/ Shameless plug 2: If you want to wade into the trade Twitter fight and are confused by the terms flying around, my VERY EARLY Beta trade glossary is now live.

I know it's rough and woefully incomplete. I'm working on it!

explaintrade.com/glossary/