Trump lied about tariffs, will refund $165 billion to Americans that paid them
As our national debt continues to grow by the second (at a rate of $89,902.48 per second as of May 20, which equates to $7.7 billion a day), the Trump administration just added to the strain by coughing up $20 billion in tariff refunds, with more on the way.
And just how much more is on the way? $145 billion seems to be the number, according to NBC News.
And just why is the Trump administration shelling out this much-needed cash? Because the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year declared that Trump’s tariffs were illegal.
And just who is entitled to those refunds? Well, according to Trump’s repeated insistence that the countries exporting cargo to the United States pay the tariffs, foreigners should be getting their money back. But according to reality, it’s the American companies that are buying those goods that pay the tariffs. Trump has lied about who pays the tariffs. As the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy puts it, “President Donald Trump has repeatedly and erroneously claimed that foreign governments are paying the entirety of his tariffs.”
As to who gets the money, despite Trump’s promise that he would “remember” companies that don’t seek tariff refunds, the companies lining up to get refunds for their share of Trump’s illegally obtained tariffs make up a list of America's largest corporations and retailers: Walmart, Apple, Home Depot, General Motors, John Deere, FedEx and Costco are among them.
CBS reports that 90% of tariffs paid by those and other companies were passed on to businesses and consumers in the form of higher costs.
It remains to be seen whether the companies receiving refunds will find a way to share the returned money with the customers who ultimately paid for those tariffs through higher prices at the retail end. Last month Money magazine asked 19 companies if they planned to give their customers tariff refunds and got replies from 3 of them.
I’d be surprised if there were a widespread tariff-reimbursement program put into place at the retail level, but something may materialize. I’ve seen reports that Walmart, Costco, UPS and FedEx have said they intend to pass savings on to customers, but detailed plans are hard to find.
What hasn’t been hard to find is the fact that this financially complicated foul-up is a result of President Trump’s repeated and inaccurate insistence about the source of tariff revenues.
They’ve been a pain and could have a lasting negative impact on our economy. Says a just-released detailed research report in Econofact, published by Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Business, “tariffs are not an effective means of achieving their stated goals of raising significant revenues, revitalizing manufacturing, nor reducing the trade deficit.”
Trump’s infatuation with tariffs has led him to ignore solid research on the subject and resort to lies about how the money is raised.
John Tsitrian is a businessman and writer from the Black Hills. He was a weekly columnist for the Rapid City Journal for 20 years. His articles and commentary have also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, The Denver Post and The Omaha World-Herald. Tsitrian served in the Marines for three years (1966-69), including a 13-month tour of duty as a radioman in Vietnam. Republish with permission.
Photo: public domain, wikimedia commons
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