Tariff 'Mission Accomplished'? Not

The Trump administration celebrates revenue coming in from tariffs. But that money is coming out of American bank accounts.

- JONAH GOLDBERG COLUMNIST

A CONTAINER ship arrives at the Port of Oakland on Aug. 1. President Trump's tariffs may be "working," but to what end?

Ostratospheric. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expects somewhere between $700 billion and $1 trillion per year. Last month, the government collected $29 billion. It’s likely this number will significantly increase as more tariffs come online and businesses run down the inventory they stockpiled earlier this year in anticipation of more tariffs to come.

Normally, Republicans don’t exult over massive revenues from tax hikes. But Trump's defenders get around this problem by insisting that money is “pouring” and “flowing” into America from someplace else.