Photo: Alamy | Analysis by Summer Lane
President Donald Trump has said many times that the word “tariff” is one of his favorite terms, and now that the financial receipts are rolling in, it’s easy to see why: the president’s tariffs are generating billions for the American economy.
In the latest budget summary from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, customs duties in May raked in a whopping $23 billion, up from $16 billion in April. This represents a 270 percent increase in tariff revenue from May 2024, when Joe Biden was in office.
As reported by RSBN, customs duties in the U.S. were just $8 billion in March, before Trump’s full-throated reciprocal tariff system went into effect. The number has been steadily creeping higher each month.
This financial victory for Trump comes amid the president’s battle with the courts to allow his tariff policies to stand. This week, the Trump administration netted a win after a federal appeals court reinstated the president’s 10 percent baseline tariffs on neighboring nations in a decision Trump called a “great and important win for the U.S.”
Despite critics’ musings, tariff policies have not resulted in an additional “tax” on the American citizen. In late May, amid concerns over whether Amazon consumers would face significant price increases on products or experience supply chain disruptions due to tariffs on China, customer spending remained steady.
In fact, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy told shareholders that the company hadn’t “seen any meaningful average selling price increases,” per RSBN.
Tariffs have been a key component of the president’s strategy to revitalize the U.S. economy. Thus far, the threat of steep tariffs has prompted many countries to invest in American manufacturing, resulting in trillions of dollars of pledged investments in the domestic United States.
“We’re resetting the table, we’re going to make our country very rich,” Trump said in April, and it looks like his tariff policies will be a big part of rebuilding that wealth.