TCT-ECO-005 · Taxes & trade
Foreign countries pay U.S. tariffs
Statement and context
“Other countries are going to finally…pay us back”; “China was paying us hundreds of billions of dollars.”
September 10, 2024, presidential debate, Philadelphia.
What the evidence shows
Customs duties are legally remitted to the U.S. government by U.S. importers. Foreign exporters can absorb part of a tariff through lower pre-tariff prices, and exchange rates can redistribute effects, but USITC found that U.S. importers bore nearly the full cost of the 2018–2021 Section 232 and 301 tariffs because import prices rose approximately one-for-one with the tariff.
False. Tariff revenue is collected from U.S. importers, and the best official retrospective study found near-full pass-through to them—not payment by China or foreign treasuries.
Sources and attribution
Tracker research synthesis; inspect the linked evidence and research record.