01/16/2025
Trump announces ‘external revenue service’ to collect foreign tariffs “We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share.”
Trump compared the proposed department to the Internal Revenue Service, which is the US’s domestic tax collector.
The establishment of a new agency requires congressional approval, but Trump enjoys strong support in Congress, as Republicans hold majorities in both the House of Representatives and the SenateIn his race to serve as president for a second term, Trump also pledged to shrink the size of the federal government, though he has since proposed several new agencies and advisory boards.
For example, Trump has already declared his intention to establish a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a nongovernmental group that would advise on how to streamline bureaucracy and slash federal spending.
That proposal has likewise raised scepticism that it would replicate the functions of existing government bodies and advisory boards. Trump has tapped entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the planned efficiency group.
His new proposal to establish a “External Revenue Service” follows repeated pledges to impose stiff tariffs on three of the US’s largest trading partners: Canada, Mexico and China.
Shortly after his election in November, for instance, Trump called for Canada and Mexico to pay a 25-percent tariff on their exports to the US, as a way of forcing the two countries to clamp down on the cross-border trafficking of drugs and migrants.
He has also pledged to impose tariffs of 10 percent on global imports into the US, along with a 60-percent tariff on Chinese goods — duties that experts say would raise consumer costs and prompt retaliation against US exports.
The US imports more than it exports from Mexico, Canada and China. Last year, the trade deficit stood at $67.9bn for Canada, $152.4bn for Mexico, and $279.4bn for China, according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.
