Trump claims tariffs rake in $3B a day — but it’s actually much lower
President Trump’s tariffs have brought in $250 million a day since he took office — a fraction of the daily $3 billion that he bragged his sweeping levies have generated.
The massive disparity comes from figures provided by the Customs and Border Protection — the agency charged with collecting all tariffs, including the controversial “reciprocal” levies, at the point of entry.
“Since April 5, CBP has collected over $500 million under the new reciprocal tariffs, contributing to more than $21 billion in total tariff revenue from 15 presidential trade actions implemented since Jan 20, 2025,” the agency said.
Counting separate duties imposed on aluminum and steel imports, and foreign vehicles, that amounts to $250 million for each of the 84 days — through Monday when CBP issued its updated report — since Trump returned to the White House.
The Treasury Department also provided figures that fell short of the president’s estimate.
According to its daily statement of total deposits, the department recorded $250 million under “Customs and Certain Excise Taxes” on Tuesday, after netting $305 million the previous day.
Trump claimed Monday that “we were losing $2 billion a day. … Now we’re making $3 billion a day” during a meeting with the president of El Salvador. He has also repeatedly said the tariffs — taxes paid by US firms on imports — are adding $2 billion per day to US coffers.
The Post reached out to the White House for comment.
The discrepancy between what Trump has claimed has been brought in and what the bottom line shows could be due, in large part, to a decrease in imports.
US import bookings on massive container ships dropped 64% from March 24-31 to April 1-8, according to container-tracking software provider Vizion.
Trump announced 10% across-the-board tariffs on most nations and stiffer reciprocal taxes on key trading partners during his “Liberation Day” event in the Rose Garden on April 2. The 10% tariffs went into effect April 5.
He paused the reciprocal tariffs on all countries on April 9 — except for China, which was slapped with a 145% duty after Beijing retaliated with a 125% on US goods.
Many companies rushed to stockpile goods in the weeks ahead of the tariffs. Now, some may be delaying orders while they use up that inventory and await clarity from Trump’s 90-day pause on the stiff reciprocal tariffs.
Small business owners have said they are pushing off orders for foreign goods because they can’t afford the hefty charges.
Amazon has canceled some orders from China for summer season items, while toymakers are putting off their Christmas imports.