The Trump administration has assessed $4.4 billion worth of duties on steel and aluminum imports and a range of goods from China under the tariffs it imposed in an effort to protect U.S. companies.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security told the Washington Examiner that importers owe the federal government $4.4 billion for importing goods hit by the tariffs through Oct. 2, but said it was unclear how much of that total has been collected. The Treasury Department didn’t have details on what portion of the $4.4 billion had been collected, and how much was still owed.
Still, the assessments show that the tariffs are imposing a real cost to importers, who are responsible for paying the charge.
Trump got aggressive on trade earlier this year, when he hit all U.S. trading partners with a 25 percent tariff on their exported steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum.
According to DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection had assessed $2.34 billion in duties on steel imports and $615 million on aluminum.
Trump followed that up with a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of imports from China, to retaliate against China’s failure to protect U.S. intellectual property rights, and its policy of forced technology transfer. He then hit another $200 billion worth of Chinese goods with a 10 percent tariff that could rise to 25 percent next year. – READ MORE
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