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https://twitter.com/man_integrated/status/1392930843958579204

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HUNTSMAN 🇺🇲

Feb 19

There’s a lot more uninformed opinions than facts swirling around X about how “trade math” (duties, tariffs, VAT, etc) works between the US and other countries.

This is particularly true in light of President Trump’s announcement on 13 Feb of the “Fair and Reciprocal Trade Plan”.

Understanding that POTUS sees trade deficits as an existential challenge to US greatness is the Rosetta Stone for interpreting his directives on trade, the economy, and a whole range of adjacent geopolitical issues.

Given my 20 years in managing international freight, supply chains, and regulatory compliance (both in policy and private sector management), I wanted to help shed some light on how this all breaks down in the real world.

Thread.

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Now, there are generally five categories of taxes applied to goods being sold under international trade regimes.

TARIFFS

This term is often confused by the layman to mean a specific type of punitive tax imposed on goods traded with other countries – this is NOT TRUE, as a tariff (by definition) is simply any tax imposed on imported goods.

(Export tariffs do exist, but are not common, so for the purposes of this primer, we’ll regard tariffs as being import-specific.)

However, in the real world, a tariff is generally an additional tax in addition to duties and punitive taxes (antidumping and countervailing) owed at the time of the goods’ entry into the commerce of a country/region/state.

For historical context, interstate tariffs were a major contributing cause to the US Civil War, with the battle over interstate/international trade policy (not slavery) perhaps being the dominant economic issue facing the US from its inception until WW1.

essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/tariffs-and-th…

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DUTIES

These are a variable tax applied to a specific good based on its characteristics, which is then associated to a global Harmonized System (HS) code of 6 digits used in almost every country.

In the US, we use the more detailed Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) 10-digit codes in lieu of the HS code for customs purposes on imports, with the first six digits of the HTS code conforming to the goods’ related HS code. HTS codes are established by the US International Trade Commission.

For exports, US shippers may use HTS codes for most products, but typically use the related Schedule B codes set by the US Census Bureau under the Dept of Commerce when filing export entries.

This distinction is important to understand, as (in the US) HTS codes are the governing classification for when a good is also subject to additional tariffs, special rates of duty (free trade agreements, Column 2 duty rates applied to countries with non-normal trade relations to the US), antidumping, and countervailing duties.

Note: Most duties and other taxes are calculated ad valorem (“of the value”) as a percentage of the declared monetary value of the goods on the commercial invoice. Certain commodities, however, are calculated based on quantity, weights, measures, etc (i.e. cents per kg).

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HUNTSMAN 🇺🇲

@maphumanintent

Feb 16, 2023

https://twitter.com/AnneNJunod/status/1625675148505530368

This is a more thorough and expert-level treatment of the East Palestine derailment than anything I would be able to muster.

Maintenance and systems control failures were my immediate assumptions.

Corollary - it is remarkably easy to induce the latter through SCADA attacks.

https://twitter.com/AnneNJunod/status/1625675148505530368

@JoshuaSteinman

Another expert on the issue of supply chains, infrastructure, and national security - @JoshuaSteinman - frequently discusses the risk of covert or overt attacks on US logistics and energy infrastructure.

It also continues to be a leading concern of military/intel officials.

@SecretaryPete

Hardening our infrastructure and ripping out Chinese-manufactured hardware and software from our ports, rail, roads, and air networks would be priority one if @SecretaryPete had any intention of doing his job.

(Shipbuilding and Jones Act reform would be #2)

Read 4 tweets

HUNTSMAN 🇺🇲

@maphumanintent

Mar 21, 2020

🚨Thread of Threads on Supply Chains and US Response During COVID-19

At the request of many readers, I'm compiling and pinning a master thread of all the long-form information I've prepared since the emergence of COVID-19.

New threads will be appended to this as I write them.

https://x.com/man_integrated/status/1237461918761263104

On the US' emergency response protocols, process, and limitations:

https://x.com/man_integrated/status/1237461918761263104

https://x.com/man_integrated/status/1231696281124397057

On how China became the manufacturing engine of the world:

https://x.com/man_integrated/status/1231696281124397057

Read 13 tweets

HUNTSMAN 🇺🇲

@maphumanintent

Feb 1, 2020

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐄𝐙 𝐁𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐨𝐧

Food, energy, and water are the three things that sustain civilization - the oceans offer an abundance of each.

Established by the UN in 1982, Exclusive Economic Zones were created to resolve maritime disputes.

They have done anything but.

Thread.

Prior to the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in 1982, maritime commerce and territorial disputes were settled via a complex maze of customs, agreements, laws, and treaties loosely called "admiralty law".

It worked, albeit messily.

2/

Often confused with the Law of the Sea concept, admiralty (or "maritime") law is the specific term for the body of laws and customs governing private matters of maritime commerce, such as shipping contracts, disposition of freight, and limits of liability.

3/

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HUNTSMAN 🇺🇲

@maphumanintent

Nov 14, 2019

𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧

The axis of the world turns upon control of four resources:

Protein
Water
Energy
Firepower

The first is the subject of this thread.

China's enormous population demands massive amounts of protein.

And a war is on for it.

1/

Christmas Eve 2013, panicked calls to logistics managers working in the grain industry began flooding in.

Without notice, China had banned the import of any corn or corn co-product that contained more than a tiny trace of Syngenta's MIR162 transgenic trait.

2/

MIR162 (trade name "Viptera") was in its first full year of mass market release, spanning many hybrids of corn.

The trait is designed to kill insects that feed on corn plants, particularly various worms and corn borers.

These insects can devastate a farmer's bottom line.

3/

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