The US government pulled in $37.8 billion from tariffs in April and May and has collected a total of $68.9 billion for the year so far, a 78% increase compared to the same period last year.
The Trump administration’s 10% tariff on all imported goods is fueling the revenue increase—but it still falls far short of the $1 trillion the president claimed the tariffs would generate in a year. And those taxes are mainly being paid by American consumers and businesses anyway.
In May, tariff revenue grew to $22 billion, a 42% increase from April, accounting for 6% of the US’s income for the month, per the Wall Street Journal.
While tariff revenue has increased, imports from all other countries—but most notably the US’s’s main trading partners: Canada, Mexico and China—have all declined substantially since April 2024. This decrease brings the trade deficit to the lowest it’s been since September 2023—$61.6 billion in April, the WSJ reported.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, if Trump’s tariffs remained for 10 years, the national debt would drop $2.8 trillion. But it would come at a cost: The CBO also stated that the tariffs would raise inflation and slow economic growth.
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