President Trump’s tariffs became very real for importers last month as the government collected more than $17.4 billion in “Customs and Certain Excise Taxes” during April.
That was nearly double March’s haul of $9.6 billion, dwarfing the smaller spikes in revenue seen during Trump’s first term.
All told, the duties have deposited more than $70 billion into government coffers since Jan. 1.
“As Billions of Dollars pour in from Tariffs … we’re only in a TRANSITION STAGE, just getting started!!!” Trump said on Truth Social Friday.
He could be right. April’s data will perhaps provide only a glimpse of what’s coming. The biggest tariffs — 10% duties on nearly every country in the world — took effect on April 5, with plenty of additional tariffs promised for the months ahead.