TRUMP'S TARIFF FRAUD

The Tariff Delusion: Trump’s Economic Illiteracy

Donald Trump’s trade and tariff policy is not a bold economic strategy. It’s a con. A scam. A fraud on the American people perpetrated by a man who either doesn’t understand how tariffs work or assumes the public is too ignorant to know better.

Let’s be clear: foreign countries do not pay tariffs. When a product from China, Mexico, or Germany arrives at a U.S. port, the American importer, the U.S. business or distributor, pays the tariff to U.S. Customs. The business eats that cost or passes it along to the American consumer.

Every time you buy a refrigerator, an appliance, a car part, a TV, or anything else with a tariff slapped on it, you are paying that tax. It is, plain and simple, a tax on Americans, levied by a man pretending he’s sticking it to China.

Trump has repeated the lie that “China is paying us billions” so many times it has become one of the great propaganda successes of his presidency. But it’s fiction. If China is “paying” anything, it’s only because Chinese manufacturers might lose customers or absorb part of the cost to stay competitive. Still, the check goes to the U.S. government from U.S. companies, not the Chinese government.

Tariffs Don’t Reshore Industry. They Raise Prices

Trump’s second delusion is that tariffs will force manufacturers to relocate to the United States. This is economic fantasy at its most naive. American industry didn’t go overseas because of a whim. It left because other countries offer lower labor costs, less regulation, and more efficient supply chains. You don’t reverse four decades of globalization with a penalty tax.

Building factories here requires capital, labor, infrastructure, supply chain integration, and long-term economic stability, none of which Trump provides. Instead, he offers uncertainty, volatility, and trade wars that discourage investment.

Even worse, the very companies he says will come home are, in fact, just passing on the cost of tariffs to you, the consumer. Prices rise. Inflation ticks upward. American companies get squeezed. And the workers Trump claims to champion? They get laid off because businesses are forced to cut costs somewhere, and labor is always the first target.

The Results Are Already In

We’ve already seen the consequences:

• U.S. farmers crushed by retaliatory tariffs and forced to take government bailouts.
• American manufacturers like Harley-Davidson and Whirlpool are either moving production overseas or raising prices.
• Global supply chains are disrupted, forcing delays, shortages, and higher costs.

Trump’s trade war didn’t bring jobs back. It raised prices, hurt exporters, and undermined confidence in the U.S. as a stable trading partner. 

He’s selling snake oil, wrapped in a flag, sprinkled with populist slogans, and marketed to the very people it hurts most.

Call It What It Is: A Tax Scam and a Con Game

Trump’s tariffs have only achieved stealth taxation of the American middle class. This is economic fraud, and it’s time to expose it for what it is: another fraud on the American people.

If any other politician proposed a tax on everyday goods, the Republican Party would erupt in protest. But when Trump does it and labels it “America First,” they fall in line like cult members.

Trump’s tariff policy isn’t just stupid. It’s destructive. It isn’t very ethical. And if allowed to continue, it will hollow out the American economy in the name of a lie.

Please don’t fall for it again.

William James Spriggs