“I appreciate the incredible bipartisan support that my administration has had on trade and trade policy, especially as it pertains to placing very massive tariffs on China,” President Trump said at his press conference last Thursday. “And just so you understand: These tariffs are paid for largely by China.”
What Trump said is not true. American consumers who buy goods from China — the end users — are the ones paying these “very massive” tariffs. Even if China subsidizes the goods they buy, they are paying more than they would otherwise.
Also paying the taxes are Americans who buy and make products that contain Chinese raw materials. Contrary to Trump’s comment that “you don’t have to pay” if you move your operation to the U.S., American manufacturers have been among those hit hardest by tariffs against steel and aluminum.
But the clearest evidence so far that Americans pay the tariffs is the “very massive” $16 billion subsidy package that Trump was there on Thursday to announce. American commodity agriculture is a profitable export business without government interference, yet now taxpayers must bail out American farmers because of tariffs. And mind you, they didn’t ask for this bailout, but they wouldn’t need a bailout if not for Trump’s tariff war.
In his presser, Trump claimed that because the $16 billion is less than the anticipated revenue from the punitive tariffs he put in place, the Chinese are actually subsidizing our farmers. But again, this ignores what tariffs actually do — especially large, shock tariffs like these, designed not for revenue but to impede commerce and punish bad behavior. Ultimately, tariffs not only force domestic consumers to pay more for Chinese goods, but they also limit consumer choice. As in any market, a reduction in competition means higher prices for consumers.
If Trump needs to impose tariffs temporarily in order to stop China’s wholesale theft of intellectual property from U.S. exporters, then most Americans are probably willing to accept the tariffs as a necessary evil. But tariffs do not, as Trump has claimed, “make our Country richer.” They do not force China to pay our bills. They do not even reduce trade deficits (not that they matter) as the rising trade deficit of the Trump era demonstrates.
If tariffs were a such a great benefit to Americans, or even just a harmless policy, the stock market would not be down 1,000 points this month on fears that there will be no eventual resolution of this standoff with China. And Trump would not be bailing out farmers, who are surely the most eager to see these tariffs come to an end.
[Related: Farmers in US heartland fume over fallout from Trump’s China tariffs]
