In a surprise big news development last Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP )… They’ve brought in about $500 million from the most recent tariffs enacted by the Trump administration, but that’s well short of the $2 billion a day former President Trump had promised the U.S. would be receiving. This data should stop the Democrats tooting their horns and shake the presumption that favors Trump’s assertions on revenue from tariffs.
When officials first announced the tariffs in early April, they initially made them apply to all countries. They implemented a short-term reduction, establishing a universal rate of 10%. Specifically, tariffs on imports from China stayed at much higher levels. CBP announced a 10-hour sabotage of the finance system on processing some freights. Even with this dramatic disruption, the agency continued to receive an average daily revenue of an astounding $250 million.
The glitch prevented U.S. importers from inputting a key code needed. This code was required for certain freight already en route to avoid high tariffs. Even amidst this major disruption, CBP assured us that revenue collection was never seriously interrupted.
“Even during the brief glitch, CBP’s average $250 million/day revenue stream remained uninterrupted,” – CBP
State-by-state distributions released by the Treasury Department on Monday did little to quell that frustration. This was particularly striking because it showed deposits for “Customs and Certain Excise Taxes” were $305 million. This figure stands in further sharp contrast to Trump’s assertions that daily collections would be $2 billion.
Since the implementation of the new tariffs on April 5, CBP has reported a cumulative collection of over $500 million under these measures. This recent increase is on top of over $21 billion in tariff revenue. This revenue is a direct result of the 15 trade actions that the Trump administration started since taking office January 20th, 2017.
“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,” – CBP
The discrepancy between the reported collections and Trump’s estimates highlights ongoing challenges in the administration’s trade policies and their expected economic impact. As these tariffs replay tariff debates from 150 years back, questions about their effectiveness and the revenue they accrue are sure to be raised again.
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