Tariffs Are A Tax On Americans - Not Foreign Nations

While campaigning in the 2016 election, Donald Trump said he would built a wall between the United States and Mexico - and Mexico would pay for the wall. It was a ridiculous assertion, and it did not come true. Only a few miles of that wall was ever built, and that was paid for by U.S. taxpayers - NOT Mexico.

Now he is trying to fool the American people again. He wants to continue his tax breaks - 82% of which went to the rich and super-rich. And he wants to pay for it by imposing tariffs on foreign goods entering the United States by between 10% and 60%.

He's upset because Democrats are telling the truth about his tariffs - that it just amount to a big tax on American consumers. He keeps saying that foreign countries will pay the tariff (tax) and not Americans.

He's either blatantly lying or he doesn't understand how basic economics work - or both!

Consider how a tariff works. The tariff is not imposed until the foreign goods enter this country (not when they are shipped). And who pays the tariff? That would be the American company that ordered the goods. And that company would recover the money they spent on a tariff by raising the price of goods when they sell them to the American consumer. 

That means if a 10% tariff is imposed, then the imported goods will cost the U.S. consumer an extra 10% in price. 

Now, a Republican might tell you to just buy products made or grown in the United States. But that is almost impossible to do. About 40% to 60% of the fruits and vegetables in our grocery stores are imported, and the price for them will be inflated. Also, there are many products that are not made in the United States (like TV's). If you buy one of these, the price will be inflated by the amount of the tariff.

Trump would like you to believe his tariff's would be paid by foreign countries - but that isn't true. His tariffs are nothing more than a tax on Americans - a tax that will make the already too high inflation even worse.