Trump Says Tariffs Have Brought in $18 Trillion. That's Impossible. |
Free Trade
Eric Boehm | 12.15.2025 3:00 PM
In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has inflated his previous claims about how lucrative tariffs have been for the United States.
Trump's new figure: An astonishing $18 trillion.
Trump first used the "$18 trillion" figure during a cabinet meeting on December 2, then repeated it during comments to reporters on December 3 and in an interview with Politico on December 8. He also brought it up, unprompted and somewhat bizarrely, during the announcement on December 4 of a new peace treaty that aims to end hostilities between........