Make America Wealthy Again

Those who still see the threat of trade tariffs from Donald Trump merely as a negotiating tactic to achieve better deals around the world may need to have a rethink. In a recent tweet, the President-elect included a chart showing the decline in custom duties (i.e. trade tariffs) as a share of government revenue over the last century or so. He added “Tariffs will pay off our debt and, MAKE AMERICA WEALTHY AGAIN!”.  He clearly sees tariff policy as a source of revenue, not merely a way to close the US trade deficit. We will never return to the days when the vast majority of US government revenue was derived from tariffs. But some rebalancing seems to be the aim in Trump 2.0.