President-elect Donald Trump announced he will be creating a new federal agency that will have other countries pay “their fair share” in taxes and tariffs.
Cleverly called the External Revenue Service, the proposed department will join Trump’s other creation, the Department of Government Efficiency with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy at the helm.
“For far too long, we have relied on taxing our Great People using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Through soft and pathetically weak Trade agreements, the American Economy has delivered growth and prosperity to the World, while taxing ourselves,” the incoming president wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“It is time for that to change,” Trump continued, announcing the “birth date” for the new service.
“I am today announcing that I will create the EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE to collect our Tariffs, Duties, and all Revenue that come from Foreign sources. We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share. January 20, 2025, will be the birth date of the External Revenue Service,” he wrote, concluding, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
It appears the new department would be collecting tariffs and some of the other responsibilities that are currently handled by the Commerce Department, the U.S. Trade Representative, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It was not clear from Trump’s message who will run the new department or how.
According to CBS News:
Federal law allows presidents to adjust tariffs based on stated threats to national security, or to remove the practice of a foreign government that the U.S. believes is violating an international trade agreement or is unfair or discriminatory. Trump heavily relied on his tariff authority in his first term, and President Biden’s team didn’t undo all of his tariffs. The Biden administration even imposed additional tariff hikes, including a 100% duty on electric vehicles from China.
President Joe Biden’s administration collected $144 billion in revenue through tariffs on foreign goods, according to the Tax Foundation. During Trump’s first term, $89.1 billion was collected.
“Tariffs paid for everything up until the early 20th century,” former White House adviser Steve Bannon told Politico this week.
“But you wouldn’t just look at tariffs, you look at everything about how you can charge fees essentially, whether that’s on investment, whether that’s on other things of access to this country. America’s behind the golden door, OK? And this market is the most robust, lucrative market in the world, and we shouldn’t just let people have access, we shouldn’t let foreigners have access to this market and to the American people and American citizens for free,” he said, adding that the new agency could take the “burden off people on Internal Revenue Services — no reason the American people, American corporations, even the donor class has to pay for everything.”