Donald Trump capped off a whirlwind series of tariff threats with confirmation Friday that he has broken yet another monthly tariff revenue record, ending a week where his trade war got more complicated than ever.
This latest frenetic stretch began with the president promising a mix of “Letters, and/or Deals” and also talking of being “done” with trade talks.
But markets closed up shop on Friday with perhaps the only certainty that talks are likely to intensify in the coming weeks as negotiators (not to mention traders) refocus on a new Aug. 1 deadline for a range of promised tariff hikes.
Read more: What Trump’s tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
But in the meantime — as Trump himself often touts — tariff revenues are clearly coming in. New data from the Treasury Department released Friday afternoon confirmed that June was yet another record month on the revenue front, with $26.6 billion in customs duties coming into US coffers.
It was another step up from May’s total of $22.2 billion. It brings the total for the fiscal year, which began in November, to $108 billion, with the majority of that money coming in recent months as Trump’s tariffs began to bite.
But the Friday afternoon data also confirmed that Trump still has a way to go before tariff revenues make up a major piece of US government receipts; this latest Treasury monthly statement also showed that total government receipts for the month topped $526 billion.
The new Friday data was the latest in a nonstop series of tariff headlines throughout the week — from surprise escalations and promises of 35% tariffs on Canada to 50% duties on Brazil to letters to 20+ additional nations and unveiling of 50% duties on copper.
Trade observers couldn’t keep up, but markets more often than not shrugged off the threats, with apparent plans to wait and see what the landscape looks like closer to that deadline next month.
In the meantime, Trump says no more extensions are in the offing and added at a recent Cabinet meeting that “the big money will start coming in on Aug. 1.”
In total, Trump is now promising to impose blanket tariffs of about 15% to 20% on most trading partners, with others going much higher.
Brazil was perhaps the biggest surprise of the week when that South American nation saw a letter with a possible 50% tariff over what Trump describes as a witch hunt of the former president, a Trump ally who faces accusations of trying to overturn the will of voters after losing a reelection bid in 2022.
“Maybe at some point I’ll talk to him,” Trump told reporters Friday of when he would negotiate with Brazil. “Right now I’m not.”
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