Trump’s description of how tariffs work at odds with reality

Re “Consumers should brace for price increases as retailers pass tariff costs along” (Nov. 10): President Trump recently posted about “the massive amounts of money being made by the United States of America, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, as a direct result of Tariffs being charged to other countries.”

This shows a breathtaking ignorance of what a tariff actually is: A tax paid to the U.S. Treasury by the U.S. importer of the tariffed goods. There is no money flow into the U.S. from tariffs. Tariffs raise prices of imported goods and impose a massive tax hike (the “Hundreds of Billions of Dollars” mentioned above) on the American people. They have no direct effect on foreign manufacturers unless we in the U.S. decide to not buy those tariffed goods — which is apparently not happening.

— Peter Wagner, Scripps Ranch