Analyzing welfare effects of tariff and price difference in exporting country.
The Lexus LS 430, the top of the line Lexus sedan, riad a base price in Canada of C$85,700 during the fall of 2005. Restated in US dollars using the exchange rate prevailing then, that price is $71,885. In the US during the fall of 2005, the same car had a base price of $56,525. Thus, the LS 430 was 27 percent more expensive in Canada, a difference that is substantial even after recognizing that Toyota could export cars from Japan to the US duty free but had to pay a 6.1 percent tariff on cars exported to Canada. (The LS 430 is produced only in Japan.) The Canadian government helped to maintain this price difference by making it very costly and administratively difficult for a Canadian to buy a car in the US and then import it for use in Canada. Elucidate whether the US-Canadian price difference implies that Toyota would have earned greater profit shipping more of the LS 430 models to Canada and less to the US. Construct a diagram to illustrate your answer.