Trump’s plan for tariffs criticized as 'excellent plan to ruin our economy'

Economic experts are ripping apart one of Donald Trump's latest false claims.

During the ex-president's Pennsylvania rally Saturday, he said, "A tariff is a tax on a foreign country. A lot of people like to say it’s a tax on us. No. It’s a tax on a foreign county. It's a tax that's ripping us off and taking our jobs. And it's a tax that doesn’t affect our country."

In 2018, Urban Institute and Brookings Institution's Tax Policy Center senior fellow Howard Gleckman wrote:

A tariff is a tax on imported goods. Despite what the [former] President [Trump] says, it is almost always paid directly by the importer (usually a domestic firm), and never by the exporting country. Thus, if the US imposes a tariff on Chinese televisions, the duty is paid to the US Customs and Border Protection Service at the border by a US broker representing a US importer, say, Costco.

READ MORE: Why Trump’s 'radical' tariff proposals fail 'basic math': economics expert

Journalist David Cay Johnston, who specializes in economics and tax issues, commented: "Trump has this completely upside down. American consumers will pay the tariffs on foreign goods AND they will pay more for domestic goods as producers raise prices to just below the import plus tariff price.Trump's proposal is, however, an excellent plan to ruin our economy."

Washington Monthly columnist David Atkins added: "Trump really doesn't know what a tariff is. He thinks it means other countries pay money into the U.S. treasury like medieval tribute.He is a colossal moron."

Anti-Trump billionaire Mark Cuban wrote: "Any importers want to explain how they deal with tariffs on say food or agricultural products ?"

Sharing a screenshot from the pro-Trump Heritage Foundation's website, News Channel 5 chief investigative reporter Phil Williams added: "Excuse me, sir! The conservative @Heritage Foundation would beg to differ! 'When a government collects revenue from tariffs, it is collecting it from its own citizens—not from the citizens of the country upon whose goods tariffs were imposed.'"

Former FBI counsel Andrew Weissmann wrote: "Debate q to him: you tout your economic expertise, but you declared bankruptcy repeatedly and don’t know what a tariff is. You don’t think tariffs wd affect our country?"

READ MORE: Trump’s proposals 'pose enormous risks to our economy': ex-Treasury secretary

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