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[[File:Main-image.jpeg|thumb|left|300px|Figure 1. Old Assyrian trade colony tablets detail levies paid by merchants. Despite the taxes, the trade proved highly profitable for the merchants. ]]
Trade tariffs have long been part of trading relationships since antiquity. Governments have long taxed products coming through their territories as ways to raise funds either directly for the ruler or the wider government. This is no different today. However, the nature and how tariffs have been applied has changed.
====Modern Tariffs====
[[File:File-20170720-24017-1hxq3ej.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Figure 2. The Corn Laws were tariffs on agricultural grains which intended to expand domestic production of food. However, the tariffs impeded aid to Ireland, leading to their eventual removal.]]
In the late 18th century, Great Britain began to dominate oceanic trade with its powerful navy. At this time, tariffs were very high, roughly 50 percent, which made the import of goods mostly uneconomical. This reflected the political era, where Britain competed with France and Spain for dominance of the high seas, where each actor attempted to limit trade with the other. Tariffs in the early 19th century were still high; however, Britain's trade in given products began to greatly expand during the early Industrial Revolution, slowly influencing its outlook on trade. Gradually, Britain reduced tariffs and entirely removed them for food commodities in 1840s with the repeal of the Corn Laws (Figure 2). This was, in part, motivated by events in Ireland, which was experiencing the Great Famine that led to a need to export food. Tariffs were often seen as a way to protect domestic industry and economic sectors such as agriculture.
