President-elect Donald Trump announced his plan to create a new government agency which will focus on collecting “tariffs, duties, and all revenue” from foreign sources. Aptly named the External Revenue Service, Trump said in a social media post he would create the department the day he takes office as president for a second term.
Trump also referenced the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) noting that Americans have been taxed for too long. “Through soft and pathetically weak Trade agreements, the American Economy has delivered growth and prosperity to the World, while taxing ourselves. It is time for that to change,” the Republican said in a post on Truth Social.
“We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share.”
Trump did not specify whether the new agency would replace collections of tariffs, duties, fees and fines by U.S. Customs and Border Protection or collection of taxes on foreign corporate and individual income by the IRS.
Reuters reports that the “conservative-leaning Tax Foundation estimates that a 20% universal tariff on all imports into the U.S. would generate $4.5 trillion over 10 years before negative economic effects that would cut net collection to $3.3 trillion over a decade.”
Fox Business reports:
During his successful campaign to return to the White House, Trump touted plans to impose an across-the-board tariff of 10% or 20% – as well as a larger tariff of 60% on goods imported from China.
He also threatened to impose a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico, which are both parties to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) – a free trade agreement Trump negotiated during his first term as a successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).