Despite losing overwhelmingly in the Supreme Court, Donald Trump now seems bound and determined to hold onto every dime of the tariff money the US government collected, even though doing so may not be legal, according to Politico.
“Officials across the Trump administration are scrambling to devise legal strategies that would allow the government to keep billions of dollars in tariff revenue the Supreme Court said was illegally collected.”
“Early ideas include policies to discourage companies from claiming their refunds, prevent the government from paying the money back or otherwise preserve at least some of the tariff revenue, according to five people familiar with the conversations, granted anonymity to discuss them.”
For his part, Trump sounds like his feelings are still hurt because the high court ruled against him, remarking, “They take months and months to write an opinion and they don’t even discuss that point. I guess it has to get litigated for the next two years.”
Translation: We will string this out for two years so I don’t have to admit I was wrong.
Trump’s comments also directly contradict what his Justice Department stated just last year, that it would pay back tariffs with interest to businesses that filed lawsuits against the administration.
Another problem for the administration and Republicans in Congress is that tariff revenue was expected to lessen the impact of the fiscal hole blown in the deficit by the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” that slashed taxes for the richest corporations and tycoons.
“Not only did Trump float using the money to provide direct payments to some Americans, the White House used the prospect of $4 trillion in tariff revenue over the next ten years to help convince fiscal hawks to support a massive tax package that Republicans passed last July. Without the tariff revenue, the tax cuts are projected to add $3.4 trillion to the national debt, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.”
Raise the deficit and federal debt, lie about repaying tariff revenue, and wind up with yet another failed policy that cripples the American economy.
Donald Trump is a loser, and now his losing is costing each of us thousands of dollars.
