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Comment by seszett | Hacker News Reader

If anyone needed any more evidence that they don't know what they're doing, what I find interesting is that the various French overseas territories that are part of the EU are tariffed at different rates than the rest of the EU (treating those as separate countries is traditional for any US company, which is sometimes a headache when you want to order something).

Réunion is at 37%, which isn't a problem because any company in Reunion could just use an address on mainland France, but there's more: Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana are tariffed at 10%.

Does that make an easy loophole for any EU company wishing to export things to the US at a 10% tariff?

If these published rates actually going to be enforced this way, it seems like the whole EU has a very easy way to use the 10% rate.

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French Guiana is part of the EU, sounds like mailboxes there will soon become good business.

If exploitation of the "loophole" got to the point where it starts affecting trade balance then presumably the rate would be revised fairly quiclly.

Are those part of the EU? The whole membership of EU (or more precisely European institutions) is a mess and I really only know EEA, Schengen and Eurozone by heart. But there definitely are territories which are part of e.g. France, but not part of the EU

Yes, but Martinique is not considered a territory, and is considered part of the EU.

Sure they are, 2 seconds of googling compared to a minute writing your post:

> The European Union (EU) has nine 'outermost regions' (ORs): Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion and Saint Martin (France), the Canary Islands (Spain) and the Azores and Madeira (Portugal). The ORs are an integral part of the EU and must apply its laws and obligations.

French Guiana is in the EU.

They are part of the EU and are part of the EU customs area, there is no practical difference with other EU territories regarding trade.

They are not part of Schengen (but EU citizens don't need any visa, it's mostly intended to curb illegal immigration from South America via Guiana) and have the ability to use different VAT rates from mainland France, but that's all.

I found it interesting that when the UK was part of the EU, the Isle of Man was not, but because they held British Passports, the people of the Isle of Man were EU citizens.

It's the same for all the non-EU French territories. EU citizenship is not territorial, it's directly linked to the person's nationality so you wouldn't remove EU citizenship from a French citizen just because he happens to live in New Caledonia. French or British citizens living in Canada also are EU citizens after all.

The state of British citizenship is a bit more complicated though I think. A bit like US citizenship which kinda depends on which US territory one lives, as far as I understand.

No, a British citizen is a British Citizen wherever you live. There are tax implications based on where you live, but that's unrelated.

Right, but citizens of British overseas territories, crown dependencies and whatever other statuses exist are not necessarily British citizens. Same as with the various US territories.

This is what I meant when I said these citizenships work in more complicated ways than the French one.

> the people of the Isle of Man were EU citizens.

Not quite, at least not by default. The pre-Brexit Manx passport did confusingly include the text "European Union" on its cover, but holders of Manx nationality were only citizens of the EU if they had lived for at least 5 consecutive years in the UK or if they descended from a UK parent or grandparent.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isle_of_Man-variant_British_pa...

I think all French territories are part of the EU, but some other countries work differently. The prime example is St. Martin, where the French part is in the EU, but the Dutch isn't (yes that technically puts a EU border through the middle of the island, although there were no pass controls when I was last there.).

Let’s not assume they actually want a growing economy, I don’t think GOP voters want a growing economy.

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