Prez Trump: I am Tariff Man

President Trump:

….I am a Tariff Man. When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so. It will always be the best way to max out our economic power. We are right now taking in $billions in Tariffs. MAKE AMERICA RICH AGAIN

Tariffs are a tax paid by Americans on stuff they buy overseas, not the foreigners who are selling the stuff.

According to the President, the federal government is “taking in $billions”, but only because Americans are paying the tax. This is a total backfire on the Administration’s part.

As bad, there is no “raid”. The buying and selling is voluntary. Americans are deciding to buy from overseas. That is not a raid on the wealth of a nation.

Epic fail.

UPDATE: Dan Mitchell weighs in.

President Trump, Oil Prices, and Tariffs

Don Boudreaux: 

Because you correctly understand that a fall in the prices that we Americans pay for oil is akin to a tax cut – and because you correctly understand that such a tax cut is a boon to us Americans – why do you insist not only on raising the taxes that we pay for the likes of steel, aluminum, automobiles, and washing machines, but also on celebrating these tax hikes as sources of greater American prosperity? Is there something unique about oil – perhaps its odor, its viscosity, the way that it’s spelled – that makes a greater abundance of it beneficial whereas a greater abundance of the likes of steel, aluminum, automobiles, and washing machines is harmful?

The same principle goes for the prices of those goods whose prices have been increased as a result of the tariffs. And don’t tell me the tariffs are to create and protect jobs. More jobs are negatively affected in the industries that use and consume the products than the industries that produce the products.