On Thursday at midnight, steep retaliatory tariffs Donald Trump slapped on dozens of countries went into effect. “IT’S MIDNIGHT!!! BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN TARIFFS ARE NOW FLOWING INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!” the president wrote on Truth Social minutes before the levies snapped into effect.
“Tariffs are flowing into the USA at levels not thought even possible,” he added in a subsequent post.
Hours later, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent appeared on MSNBC, where he was gently coaxed into admitting that while the government might rake in plenty from the new taxes, American businesses and consumers are the ones paying the penalties.
“So if someone here, an importer, wants to buy Brazilian products today or tomorrow and import them, they’re going to pay 50 percent to the Treasury, and so who writes that check,” host Eugene Robinson asked Bessent of the new tariffs leveled against the South American nation.
Bessent first stated that tariffed Brazilian imports could simply be replaced with “substitutes” from other nations, before being pressed by Robinson to clarify “who writes the check to the Treasury,” if the product does come from a tariffed nation like Brazil.
“Well, the check is written to the person who receives it at the dock, in the U.S.” Bessent replied.
“The check is written by the person, the receiver. So the tariff is paid in this country by the importer. Is that right?” Robinson pressed. Bessent then said that the exporter could lower their price to retain market share. Robinson pressed again: “But the check is written by the importer, at the dock?
“Yep,” Bessent said. “And the importer can pass it on or not.”
The economic reality is that tariffs are not taxes paid by exporters, they are an economic disincentive against the importing specific products that primarily burdens the purchaser. But much like President Trump thinks he can just fire the nation’s leading statistician to make his floundering economic metrics go away, the administration believes it can simply declare that centuries of economic theory and practice don’t apply to them.
The pared down tariffs that have been in place for several months have already begun negatively impacting the American economy. Job and GDP growth has slowed, consumer prices are on the rise, and inflation has begun to tick up. Some of Trump’s advisers worry that not even dipping economic numbers will get the president to back off his chaotic tariff policy.
“Sometimes Trump can’t stand prosperity,” longtime Trump economic confidant Stephen Moore, told Rolling Stone this week. “My advice to Trump is to stop with the tariffs. We don’t need tariffs right now. … When I see him, he knows my position; every time he sees me, he says: ‘There’s Steve Moore! He doesn’t like tariffs!’ This will hopefully get the administration to back off of the tariffs.”
Rolling Stone reported that Trump fulfilled a long-held dream by firing Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, after the agency released a weak job report on Monday. He is continuing to do what he can to avoid the reality of his economic agenda as the new round of tariffs went into effect last night.
“BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, LARGELY FROM COUNTRIES THAT HAVE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THE UNITED STATES FOR MANY YEARS, LAUGHING ALL THE WAY, WILL START FLOWING INTO THE USA,” he wrote on Truth Social.
He can put it in all caps, he can post it 10 times a day, but by the admission of his own Treasury secretary, it’s American businesses who are writing the check for those billions. Consumers are already feeling the squeeze, and it stands to get a lot worse.
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