`Tariff`: what`s in the word behind Trump`s tit-for-tat trade war?
(The Guardian China)

The trade stand-off between China and the US escalated this week, but what exactly does `tariff´ mean?The trade stand-off between the US and China escalated this week, with Beijing announcing it would increase tariffs in turn. Donald Trump doesn´t seem to understand what he is doing - he has claimed the Chinese would have to pay for his tariffs on Chinese goods coming into the US, when Americans do. But why are they called `tariffs` anyway?The word comes from the Italian `tariffa` for arithmetic or accounting, and was first used in English for mathematical tables, before it became a specialised word for customs duties. (The `tariff` was originally the whole set of such duties, or what is now called the `schedule` of tariffs.) Thereafter it could also apply to the list of charges made by a hotel, or a sentencing scale for more or less severe examples of certain crimes. Continue reading...