[ticviking]

That seems to me like their import tax is working.

I wish more countries had import taxes of this sort, they tend to push the nation to be a bit more diversified in their economy since they provide air cover for small local concerns.

[toast0]

> That seems to me like their import tax is working.

Kind of. And you can see it worked for India; they started making iPhones there because of the import tax and over time are exporting iPhones from India.

But there's a lot of products that aren't big enough to justify production in multiple locations, and Brazil tends to get those very late, if at all, because the import tax makes the prices way too high. Maybe video games aren't important, but Brazil has a wildly different experience with them than the rest of the world, because of the import tax.

Also, I think only the really populous countries can manage this style of tax. With smaller countries it's easier to accept the loss of sales and avoid the expense of local production.

[duxup]

Increases the cost for locals though doesn’t it?

[ticviking]

For things they don’t produce sure. But my hope is that they would wind up having better economies since their Local economy might be a bit shielded from international trade

[duxup]

I'm not sure being shielded from international trade and economies of scale go hand in hand.

[zip1234]

Doesn't really work for small countries.