Understanding tariffs

The recent presidential debate clearly shows that candidate Trump doesn’t understand what U.S. tariffs on foreign products are and do. They are not, in effect, a sales tax that transfers dollars to the federal government that can be spent. The tariff dollars imposed are simply added to the price that American consumers pay for that product.

President Biden has kept some of Trump’s tariffs in place and has imposed a few others, not to raise “revenue” but to protect American manufacturers from low prices on foreign goods that result from foreign government subsidies. Those subsidies result in unfair competition.

Mary F. Warren

Wheaton