Catherine Rampell: Revenue from Tariffs Is ‘Probably Going To Be Pennies’; ‘Everybody Is Worse Off’

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
WHITFIELD: “Simply when he says, you know what? This is going to help the U.S. make a lot of money. And and how how is that money made and where would it go?”

RAMPELL: “They are taxes on imported goods that will have some revenue. But how much revenue is probably going to be pennies relative to the economic cost? Because it‘s going to raise the price of goods that come into the United States. That‘s going to reduce demand, which means you won‘t necessarily get, uh, tariff revenue on all of the goods that we are receiving now. You‘ll see fewer of them, which is why the other you‘ll see fewer of these goods coming in, which is why other countries don‘t want them. So it‘s not like Americans come out ahead or behind. Um, and the other country feels the opposite. Everybody is worse off. So yes, there will be some tax revenue that‘s collected last time around. Viewers may recall that Trump just used that tax revenue, that tariff revenue to pay off farmers in the United States who were hit by retaliatory tariffs. Right? That when Trump imposed steel and aluminum tariffs, for example, around the world, lots of countries retaliated by saying, okay, we are going to raise our own import taxes, tariffs on American soybeans or corn or other products, which hurt American farmers. And Trump just transferred that revenue to them. So maybe he‘ll try to do the same thing again. But it‘s not going to actually raise meaningful money. Again, it‘s likely to hurt American consumers, uh, hurt American employers who are facing retaliatory tariffs and also hurt American companies that import intermediate goods right to make their own products. So, like with steel and aluminum, if we raise the cost of those inputs, that‘s going to hurt, uh, automakers, um, beer can, uh, you know, manufacturers and downstream companies like, you know, American craft beer makers or soda makers, for example, uh,