President Donald Trump makes no secret of his love of tariffs. He heralds them as a way of bringing in revenue, striking back at countries he sees as taking advantage of the U.S. in trade, and as a cudgel to push countries to do what he wants. Even Canada and Mexico have been handed heavy taxes.
On April 2, Trump announced far-reaching new tariffs on nearly all trading partners, only to roll most of them back on April 9 after the stock market tanked.
Still, he claims that tariffs, a tax on imported goods, are bringing in billions of dollars a day. On April 8, speaking at the National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner, he said, “We’re making a fortune with tariffs. $2 billion a day. Do you believe it? I was told $2 billion a day.”
Here’s a look at the facts.
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CLAIM: The U.S. is earning $2 billion per day from tariffs.
THE FACTS: That’s false. Trump began raising tariffs in February. That month, about $7.247 billion in customs duties were collected, or $258.82 million per day. In March, the most recent monthly figure available, a total of about $8.168 billion in customs duties was collected, or approximately $263.48 million per day. A customs duty is a type of tariff.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in an April 8 statement that as a result of 13 tariff-related presidential actions taken by Trump, it was collecting each day “over $200 million in additional associated revenue.” The agency is responsible for collecting tariffs.
Those numbers are in line with what the U.S. has taken in thus far during fiscal year 2025, which started Oct. 1 under the Biden administration. According to the latest Treasury Department numbers, $56.215 billion in customs duties and certain excise taxes have been collected, or $283.91 if broken out per day. An excise tax is also a type of tariff.
The U.S. has collected approximately $3.076 billion in customs and certain excise taxes so far this month, coming out to about $180.94 million per day, according to the Treasury Department’s data.
Economists suggest that Trump’s number is likely based on the value of imported goods from fiscal year 2024, disregarding the impact higher tariffs will have on supply and demand.
“It’s almost certainly the case we’re collecting less than that,” said Robert Johnson, an associate professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame, of Trump’s $2 billion per day figure.
The U.S. took in about $3.3 trillion worth of goods in fiscal year 2024, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Applying the average tariff rate Trump announced on April 2 — 20% — to that figure comes out to $660 trillion worth of goods. That’s roughly $1.8 billion of revenue per day.
