Treasury Secretary Bessent has projected that the US will collect about US $300 billion in revenue from tariffs this year.
HOWEVER, if it's American businesses and final-product consumers who end up paying the tariff fees on imports, wouldn't that both:
1) decrease demand because of higher prices, and
2) divert dollars from the USA's general economy straight toward the government, i.e., essentially imposing additional taxes on anyone who buys anything directly or indirectly sourced from another country?
@Arkturos saidYes, it's an additional tax on consumers, something the Republicans have traditionally opposed.
Treasury Secretary Bessent has projected that the US will collect about US $300 billion in revenue from tariffs this year.
HOWEVER, if it's American businesses and final-product consumers who end up paying the tariff fees on imports, wouldn't that both:
1) decrease demand because of higher prices, and
2) divert dollars from the USA's general economy straight toward the ...[text shortened]... ng additional taxes on anyone who buys anything directly or indirectly sourced from another country?
3 edits
@Arkturos saidYes and yes. Trump continues to propagate the lie that foreign countries pay the tariff and thereby add to the net worth of America; this is simply not true. Tariffs are paid by the domestic importer in America, not the exporting country.
Treasury Secretary Bessent has projected that the US will collect about US $300 billion in revenue from tariffs this year.
HOWEVER, if it's American businesses and final-product consumers who end up paying the tariff fees on imports, wouldn't that both:
1) decrease demand because of higher prices, and
2) divert dollars from the USA's general economy straight toward the ...[text shortened]... ng additional taxes on anyone who buys anything directly or indirectly sourced from another country?
Please read the article linked below; it lays bare how stupid Trump's policy is. Tariffs are a blunt instrument which do not address, much less correct, the essential issue, and they do NOT bring money into America from foreign countries.
Headline:
Trump promised 200 deals by now. He’s gotten 3, and 1 more is getting very close
source:
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/09/business/tariff-trade-deadline-delay-trump-bessent
excerpt:
“They say … ‘We will give you total access, and you don’t have to pay any tariffs, but please don’t charge us tariffs,’ and we don’t like that deal,” Trump said. “We’re not hard-line, but it’s about time the United States of America started collecting money from countries that were ripping us off – ripping us off – and laughing behind our back at how stupid we were.”
Trump is the stupid one, but no one is laughing about it.