Trump: If Russia to Blame, Massive Sanctions or Tariffs Could Come Shortly
President Donald Trump said, "over the next two weeks, we're going to find out which way it's going to go," referring to efforts to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine. Trump, who was answering reporters' questions Aug. 22 in the Oval Office clarified that he'd make a decision on whether Russia needs to be punished for resisting a settlement, or whether he washes his hands of the effort.
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"I'm going to go one way or the other," he said, "and that's whether or not it's massive sanctions or massive tariffs, or both -- or do we do nothing, and say it's your fight?"
Trump also talked about a Congressional Budget Office estimate that tariffs he hiked since taking office will reduce the deficit by $4 trillion over 10 years. Trump called the CBO a "radical left" government group, but bragged about the estimates for "the tariffs that everybody was talking about, that the whole world respects us for."
The CBO report noted that the Treasury Department collected $28 billion in tariffs in July -- and that compares with an annual collection of $80 billion before Trump's policy changes.
"CBO projects further increases in tariff revenues in the coming months. If there are no further changes in tariff rates, we project that customs duties from new and existing tariffs will total about $200 billion this fiscal year," the Aug. 22 report said, cautioning about the "variability between when the rates are implemented and when the Treasury receives the related revenues."
The CBO noted there are uncertainties about the projections, because it's difficult to know how much trade diversion there might be as a result of the higher tariffs.
"The United States has not implemented increases in tariffs of this size in many decades. As a result, there is little empirical evidence about their long-term effects," the analysts wrote. "Consumers and businesses could be more or less responsive to increases of tariffs of this size, which would cause revenues to diverge from projected amounts."