US Could Collect $300 Billion in Tariff Revenue

Source Credit : Reuters

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday said the U.S. has taken in about $100 billion in tariff income so far this year, and this could grow to $300 billion by the end of 2025 as collections accelerate from President Donald Trump's trade campaign.

Bessent, speaking to a White House cabinet meeting, said the major collections from Trump's new tariffs only started during the second quarter, when Trump implemented a near universal 10% duty on U.S. imports and boosted duties on steel, aluminum and autos.

"So we could expect that that could be well over $300 billion by the end of the year," Bessent said.

A Treasury spokesperson said the $300 billion target corresponds to the December 31 end of calendar 2025, not the end of the government's fiscal year on September 30.

Reaching $300 billion in tariff collections this year would imply an exponential increase in collections in coming months and steep and broad tariff increases from current levels.

Bessent added that the Congressional Budget Office has estimated tariff income will total about $2.8 trillion over 10 years, "which we think is probably low."

The Treasury reported record gross customs duties of $22.8 billion in May, a nearly fourfold increase from the $6.2 billion total a year earlier.

That brought customs duty collections for the first eight months of fiscal 2025 to $86.1 billion. Collections for the first five months of calendar 2025 totaled $63.4 billion.