Just to put these numbers in perspective: $38.8 billion ($16.5 + $22.3 billion) in tariff revenue is double what it normally would be, so the Trump tariffs raised about $19.4 billion extra for the US government in the months of April and May.
It may sound like a big number until you realize that, over the past year, the rate of increase of the US national debt averaged $4.54 billion *per day* (
https://jec.senate.gov/public/vendor/_accounts/JEC-R/debt/Monthly%20Debt%20Update.html…)
In other words, $19.4 billion in extra funding only covers all of *4 days* of US deficit spending at the current rate.
If you annualize this, and take not 2 months (April and May) but 12,
it funds just 24 days of US budget deficit, out of 365. When you consider the immense impact this has had on the US's standing in the global economy, with literally every single country in the world antagonized and severe repercussions for US businesses abroad... it may turn out to be one the biggest economic blunders in history.https://x.com/RnaudBertrand/status/1929707817063313491
