When Trump took office in 2017, tariff revenue was about 1.5% of total U.S. goods imports. By 2019, he had roughly doubled that to 2.9%, according to an analysis of federal data by the Yale Budget Lab.
- If the across-the-board tariffs implemented on Canada, Mexico and China this week remain in place the remainder of the year, that number is on track to soar to 9.5%, the highest since 1943.
You may recall that we were in the middle of WWII in 1943.
The 2018 to 2019 tariffs were implemented by invoking Sections 232 and 301 of trade statutes, the former giving the president authority to impose duties on national security grounds and the latter to combat unfair trade practices.
Those laws demand a process of studies and appeals, which slowed their implementation while preventing unintended consequences.
By contrast, this week’s new round of tariffs invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which gives the president broad powers with few checks “to deal with any unusual and extraordinary threat.”
And, by the way, that 9.5% doesn’t include the “liberation day” catastrophe that’s about to happen next week. The unusual and extraordinary threat we face is Donald Trump.