Tariff
Etymology
Through French and Italian tariffa from Arabic taʿrīf, "a notification, a made-known list" (from ʿarrafa, "to make known"). It entered European trade to mean an official schedule of customs duties — a published list of what importers must pay.
noun · /TAIR-if/
A tax a government places on goods coming in from another country.
What it names
It explains why a trade dispute can quietly raise the price of your groceries or electronics — the tax is paid at the border but often passed on to you.
Example
The new tariff on imported steel raised costs for every carmaker that relied on it.
Related idea
A tariff taxes imports to discourage them; a subsidy pays domestic producers to help them compete — two opposite tools with a similar goal.