Trump advisers and supporters often characterize VAT as a European tax. Yet while European countries began rolling out VAT in the 1960s and 1970s, the tax has since been adopted by more than 170 ...

Value-added tax (VAT) is a tax on products or services. Consumers pay the VAT, which is typically a percentage of the sale price. The U.S. does not have a VAT.

The largest difference between VAT and sales tax is when the tax is applied: With a sales tax, the levy is paid only once, by the retail customer. With VAT, though, each stage of the production ...

In Europe, VAT rates vary by country, but on average are about 20 percent — far higher than sales taxes in the United States, which averaged 6.6 percent in 2023, according to the Tax Foundation.

More Andrew Harnik/Getty Images What To Know The new tariffs would consider not only existing tariffs but also taxes like the value-added tax (VAT) applied by other countries on U.S. goods.

The Tax Trump Hates and the Rest of the World Won’t Give Up Value-added taxes, which the president says discriminate against U.S. exporters, fund a large share of government budgets in many ...