Australia to cancel nearly 500 "trace" import tariffs

According to the website of The Wall Street Journal on March 10th, the Australian government announced that it will cancel nearly 500 "trace" tariffs starting from July 1st, thereby reducing the import costs of various goods from toothbrushes to roller coasters and bumper cars.

This move has been described by the center left Labour government in Australia as the largest unilateral tariff reform in at least 20 years. Cancelling these tariffs will result in an annual loss of AUD 30 million (approximately USD 19.9 million) in budget revenue for Australia, but it will help simplify annual trade worth approximately AUD 8.5 billion.

Australian Treasury Secretary Jim Chambers said in a statement released on Monday that Australian workers and businesses are not protected by these tariffs, but they still need to handle the related red tape and bear the costs of complying with the tariff system.

He also said that these changes will erase 14% of Australia's total tariffs.

Some of the "minor" tariffs that are about to be lifted will affect imported products, including washing machines, agricultural vehicle tires, toothbrushes, and bamboo chopsticks.