"If you add up all of President Trump's plans for the tens of billions in tariff revenue the U.S. is collecting, the bucket of money has already dried up and then some.
Why it matters: Meaningful tariff revenue could improve the nation's fiscal outlook, creating a bright spot from the administration's trade policy, Axios' Courtenay Brown reports.
But Trump's promised debt reduction, deficit reduction, $2,000 dividend checks and farm bailouts with the money, among other things.
All of it would cost hundreds of billions of dollars, if not trillions, more in total than is on track to be collected. Failure to follow through could result in political blowback in next year's midterm elections.
The latest: Trump said in a Truth Social post this month that "a dividend of at least $2,000 a person (not including high-income people!) will be paid to everyone."
The Committee for a Responsible Budget estimates the checks would cost $600 billion twice as much as Trump's tariffs are estimated to raise on an annual basis."
Axios
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