President Donald Trump has long tried to lie and spread misinformation about the basic reality of his beloved tariffs, but according to a new Bloomberg report, his administration has made a move that finally gives the game away.
In selling his historically aggressive tariff plans on the 2024 campaign trail and during his early months in office, Trump and his allies insisted repeatedly that the new costs they created would not be paid by American consumers. Instead, they claimed, they would be paid by the foreign countries looking to export products to the U.S.
Economists of all stripes, the world over, however, were quick to point out that this was wrong: the U.S. companies importing products from overseas would pay the new taxes, and that would get passed along to the end consumer to recoup costs. Even as Trump continued to fight this reality, his tariffs were widely blamed for upticks in inflation over the last year, even after the Supreme Court severely hobbled his ability to impose them.
Now, the administration has announced a tariff rate cut for agricultural and construction equipment, explicitly for the purpose of cutting costs for those industries, which have been especially hard-hit by Trump's policies. In doing so, however, the White House has effectively admitted, at long last, that American consumers and businesses are the ones who pay the price for Trump's tariffs.
"Under a proclamation issued late Monday, those import taxes would drop to 15 percent from 25 percent," Bloomberg detailed. "Foreign companies could qualify for a lower 10 percent duty rate if capital equipment contains at least 85 percent US steel or aluminum, according to a White House fact sheet."
This rate cut will go into effect on June 8, according to the fact sheet, and is currently planned to last until the end of 2027. The White House claimed that this temporary shift is intended to "spur near-term investments that will rebuild the Nation’s industrial base."
"Trump’s directive is his latest effort to adjust steel and aluminum duties dating back to his first administration — using so-called 232 authority that has broadly produced mixed results on growth, hiring and investment," Bloomberg added. "The White House claims domestic steel production is surging, but many users of the metal are grappling with high costs and spending more trying to comply with the evolving tariff regime."