Former President Donald Trump has been running on a 10 percent tax on every imported good entering the United States and a 60 percent tax on every imported good from China. The Center for American Progress Action Fund has calculated that this would amount to an annual $2,500 tax increase for a family in the middle of the income distribution.
Now, Trump has opened the door to an even larger tax increase by suggesting that the across-the-board tax on imports could go as high as 20 percent, saying:
We’re going to have 10 to 20 percent tariffs on foreign countries that have been ripping us off for years … We’re going to charge them 10 to 20 percent to come in and take advantage of our country.
Using the same methodology, CAP Action estimates that a 20 percent across-the-board import tax combined with the 60 percent tax on Chinese goods would amount to about a $3,900 tax increase for a middle-income family.* This includes a $200 tax increase on food; a $240 tax increase on oil and petroleum products; and a $210 tax increase on medicine.
A typical family would, therefore, pay between $2,500 to $3,900 from Trump’s import taxes, depending on the precise tax rate between 10 percent and 20 percent that various countries’ goods could be taxed at.
*Author’s note: The analysis assumes the tax on imported Chinese goods is 40 percent on top of the 20 percent tariff on all imported goods.