What are tariff barriers?

Tariff barriers are rules that make things more expensive to buy from other countries.

Imagine you're at a toy store, and you really want a super cool robot from another country. But when the robot arrives, it has a tariff, which is like a tax added just because it came from far away. This makes the robot cost more money, so maybe you decide to buy a cheaper toy instead.

Think of tariff barriers as toll booths on the road between countries. Every time a toy (or any product) travels through, it has to pay a toll, that's the tariff. The more tolls there are, or the higher they are, the more expensive the toy becomes.

If you're the toy store, you might not want to pay too much in tolls because then your toys will be too pricey for kids like you. That’s why countries sometimes put up tariff barriers, it can help their own businesses by making foreign products seem less appealing.