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Sanctions, tariffs & taxes: how economic pressure reaches prices

Enter a price and a tariff/tax rate for the direct arithmetic effect, and set a sanctions-severity assumption for the indirect supply pressure. The two are modelled — and shown — separately and honestly.

Scenario uses your assumptionsNot a forecastNot live news

🛡️ Sanctions, tariffs & taxes — how pressure reaches prices

Scenario · not a forecast

Sanctions, tariffs and taxes are tools of economic pressure. A tariff or tax you enter is simple arithmetic on a price; sanctions work indirectly — on supply, routing, insurance, financing and substitution. Enter a price and see a before → after scenario range, with the direct and indirect effects kept separate. Your assumptions, not a forecast or a political claim.

Start here — a price:

🏷️ Item price or monthly spendAn item's price, or what you spend a month on a category.
$
Your input — the familiar starting point. Everything else is an assumption you set.
Two kinds of pressureSet either or both. They are modelled separately and honestly.

Tariff / tax is direct arithmetic: a rate applied to the price, scoped by pass-through. Set the rate to 0 to ignore it.

Sanctions are indirect: they restrict supply and raise cost through routing, insurance, financing and substitution. The tool shows an assumption-based pressure from the severity and substitution you set — never a faked direct price. Set severity to 0 to ignore it.

Direct: tariff or tax (arithmetic)

Indirect: sanctions / restricted supply (assumption)

On a $100.00 price, a 10% tariff/tax adds about +$6.00 directly, and a 15% sanctions-severity assumption (eased by 40% substitution) adds about +$2.43 of indirect pressure by 3 months — a scenario range of $105.62$111.24. A scenario, not a forecast.

Before$100.00
Tariff/tax (direct)+$6.00
Sanctions (indirect)+$2.43
After (mid)$108.43

Direct arithmetic and indirect pressure, kept separate — move any control to watch it change.

Before$100.00
Low$105.62
Mid$108.43
High$111.24

Your before → after scenario range.

Now $100.00Low $105.62Mid $108.43High $111.24
What drives the change?
Tariff / tax (direct arithmetic)+$6.00
Sanctions supply pressure (indirect)+$2.43
What changes first / later (mid assumption)
Today$100.00
Right away$107.08
3 months$108.43
6–12 months$110.05
1–2 years$111.40
Sensitivity — pass-through vs after price
20% pass-through$102.81
40% pass-through$105.62
60% pass-through$108.43
80% pass-through$111.24
100% pass-through$114.05

Households Tariffs and taxes can raise a price directly; sanctions more often show up as scarcity, delays or fewer choices than as a clean price tag.

Businesses Tariffs are a known cost to plan around; sanctions add compliance, financing, insurance and routing friction, and push firms to substitute suppliers.

Government These are levers of economic pressure and revenue; effects depend on retaliation, exemptions, enforcement and how easily supply reroutes.

What this does not include:any specific country's actual tariff schedule, tax code or sanctions list; retaliation, exemptions, quotas or legal carve-outs; exchange-rate, financing and insurance channels beyond the severity you set; and whether any measure will be imposed, changed or lifted. This is a way to reason about economic pressure — not a political or moral judgement, and not a forecast.

A scenario built on a price you enter and your assumptions — direct tariff/tax arithmetic kept separate from indirect sanctions pressure. Not a forecast, not legal or investment advice, not a political claim.

How it works & what it won't do

This tool shows how sanctions, tariffs and taxes can affect prices — as economic pressure, not a political judgement. A tariff or tax rate you enter is treated as plain arithmetic: the rate applied to the price, scoped by pass-through. Sanctions are treated as indirect pressure: they restrict supply and raise cost through routing, insurance, financing and substitution, so the tool only shows an assumption-based pressure from the severity and substitution you set — it never fakes a direct sanctions price. You get a before → after range, the direct and indirect effects split apart, and a 'what changes first / later' timeline.

  • Tariff/tax = direct arithmetic (rate × price × pass-through); set the rate to 0 to ignore it.
  • Sanctions = indirect, assumption-based supply pressure eased by substitution and ramped over time.
  • No specific country's real tariff schedule, tax code or sanctions list is used or implied.
  • Machine-readable at /scenario-lab/economic-warfare/data.json.

What this tool deliberately does not do

  • It does not use any specific country's actual tariff schedule, tax code or sanctions list.
  • It never fakes a direct sanctions price — sanctions are shown as indirect, assumption-based pressure.
  • It does not forecast whether any measure will be imposed, changed or lifted.
  • It is a framing of economic pressure, not a political or moral judgement, and not legal or investment advice.

Machine-readable export: /scenario-lab/economic-warfare/data.json.

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