TRUMP: Lies or ignorance

The President has lied on a daily basis and it is past time to call him on it. Something he said Jan. 3 has finally caused me to break my silence. He said in a tweet, “The United States has taken MANY billions of dollars from the Tariffs we are charging China and other countries that have not treated us fairly.” He is either flat out lying or does not understand international trade.

I worked for 20 years for companies that imported clothing. Part of my responsibility was to manufacture goods overseas, including determining the cost of importing these goods. The final product cost included materials, manufacturing, shipping and duty. Duty and tariffs are the same thing. They are taxes on imported goods. The tariff (tax) is collected by the US Treasury by charging the US company that is importing the goods. We are not charging China. The company either passes this cost on to the consumer or absorbs it by reducing their profit. If the new tariffs have added billions of dollars to the Treasury, it is coming out of your pocket or company profits, not from China.

You might say, “I’ll just buy fewer goods from overseas.” You might think his approach to foreign trade is good for the United States. This might be one of the reasons you voted for him. Fine. But the next time he makes a statement like the one above, ask yourself, “Why does he feel he has to lie to me?”

NANCY HARPER

Coeur d’Alene