Who pays the tariffs? Americans, and the first-term farm bailouts ate nearly all the revenue
Nearly all of Trump's first-term China tariff money went to farmers hurt by retaliation, and China never made the purchases it promised.
Trump often says foreign countries pay his tariffs. Economists and fact-checkers note the duty is paid by U.S. importers, who typically pass much of the cost on to American buyers.
Benn Steil and Benjamin Della Rocca of the Council on Foreign Relations found that $61 billion in payments to farmers hit by Chinese retaliation equaled about 92 percent of the tariffs Americans paid on Chinese imports during Trump's first term. Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute found China bought none of the extra $200 billion in U.S. exports it had promised in the 2020 Phase One deal.
The receipts
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Council on Foreign Relations by Benn Steil and Benjamin Della Rocca
92 percent of Trump's China tariff proceeds has gone to bail out angry farmersPeterson Institute for International Economics by Chad P. Bown
China bought none of the extra $200 billion of US exports in Trump's trade dealCouncil on Foreign Relations by Benn Steil and Elisabeth Harding
Where will Trump's tariff revenues go? His first term provides a big clue