Tariff revenue dipped slightly in November after Trump pulled back on grocery store duties

Summary:

U.S. tariff revenue dipped in November after Trump eased duties on grocery staples. Collections remain historically high, but far from covering his proposed projects, while legal challenges threaten the future of many tariffs.

The government's tariff revenues in November ticked down for the first time since President Trump began implementing his historic duties, according to new totals from the US Treasury Department.

The agency's monthly statement for November, released on Wednesday, saw a reading of $30.76 billion in customs duties collected, following an October reading of $31.35 billion.

The revenue decline came after Trump added no significant new duties last month and backtracked on some of his existing tariffs on grocery store items.

On Nov. 14, the White House released an executive order that excluded items such as coffee, tea, beef, bananas, tropical fruit, and cocoa from duties as part of an effort to address Americans' affordability concerns.

The downward tick in tariff revenue breaks a streak that began earlier this year when Trump began rolling out his tariff regime, leading to skyrocketing monthly revenues each month, from $7.25 billion collected in February until October's reading, which was over four times as large.

Trump's first major tariff move of his second term was implementing new tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada, and China, announced in February and fully taking effect in March.

The step down in revenue isn't wholly unexpected and comes after the Congressional Budget Office recently slashed its estimate of tariff receipts expected for the decade ahead by $1 trillion.

Wednesday's release brings the total revenue collected for this calendar year to about $236.16 billion, with one month to go. The November reading also remained well above the tariffs collected one year prior, which totaled $6.71 billion in November 2024.

In an interview with Politico this week, Trump defended his tariff regime, but when asked whether he'd consider cutting tariffs on additional consumer staples, he suggested that he might allow for "some" additional carveouts, similar to those made last month.

Wednesday's new Treasury Department report also showed the minimal dent tariffs are making in the yawning government deficit, with that data showing an overall $173 billion government shortfall in November, more than five times the tariff revenue number.

Trump, meanwhile, has continued to tout tariff revenues at nearly every opportunity. He has both exaggerated the amount coming in and promised the money for multiple projects, from possible $2,000 tariff dividend checks to paying down the national debt to perhaps even replacing federal income taxes.

Just this week, the president announced plans for a $12 billion bailout to farmers who have been pummeled by his trade fights and said that the money "would not be possible without tariffs."

Wednesday's release could further stretch the already difficult math that economists often say would be unlikely to cover nearly any of Trump's ideas, much less all of them.

As just one example, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget recently estimated that one round of tariff dividend checks would cost $600 billion and take about two years to pay off using only tariff revenues.

The tariff revenue question remains even further in flux as the Supreme Court considers a suit that concerns whether a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) empowers the president to impose tariffs.

A ruling against the Trump administration could invalidate over half of Trump's tariffs, by revenue, and potentially even force the president to issue refunds.

Source: finance.yahoo

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