The Department of Homeland Security announced on Monday that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection has collected $106.1 billion since President Donald Trump took office, with $81.5 billion of that revenue coming from the Trump administration’s tariffs. While most of the tariffs have only been in place since April, the Congressional Budget Office has projected that over the next decade, the current tariffs could remove $2.8 trillion from the federal debt.
According to Axios, tariff revenues are even pacing ahead of the administration’s own estimates for annual collections, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and trade adviser Peter Navarro previously estimated tariffs would generate around $300 billion in revenue.
A Senior DHS official said in the press release that Trump’s trade policies are making “America richer and [reversing] a broken trade system that resulted in millions of jobs shipped overseas and made us dependent on foreign adversaries for essential goods. This administration will always put the American first.”
With an overall effective tariff rate of 15.8 percent — the highest since 1936 — Trump is continuing to signal that tariffs are here to stay. Even as Trump continues to announce renegotiated trade deals with different nations, the new deals keep notable tariffs intact. For example, Trump announced on Wednesday that he has made a trade deal with Vietnam, including a 20 percent tariff, lowering the previous Liberation Day tariff of 46 percent.
Contrary to the fears of Trump’s critics, his tariffs have not brought elevated inflation — quite the opposite. Inflation has cooled significantly since Trump took office and has stayed that way since the tariffs. According to Forbes, June is likewise projected to experience “relatively low month-on-month inflation of 0.23 percent to 0.25 percent.” According to that report, “tariffs have not had a material impact on CPI inflation readings,” even as the critics continue to prophesy future inflation.
Trump’s tariffs promise more than just direct revenues, as the Trump administration touts a growing list of investments spurred by Trump’s “unwavering commitment to revitalizing American industry,” totaling between $7 trillion and $9 trillion.
The president has made tariffs and the investment they are bringing to the U.S. cornerstones of his argument that the Big Beautiful Bill “will be one of the most successful pieces of legislation ever passed.” Trump said in a post on Truth Social that his policies will make the bill successful by promoting growth: “Trillions of Dollars are now being invested into the USA, more than ever before. Likewise, hundreds of Billions of Dollars in Tariffs are filling up the coffers of Treasury.”
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