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Donald Trump has said he will create an “external revenue service” as soon as he returns to the White House next week, adding further substance to his campaign vow to establish a new regime of tariffs on foreign imports.
“I am today announcing that I will create the EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE to collect our Tariffs, Duties, and all Revenue that come from Foreign sources,” the president-elect posted on his Truth Social network on Tuesday.
“We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share.”
He said the “birth date” of the new service would be 20 January 2025, the day of his presidential inauguration – suggesting that its creation would be one of a flurry of executive orders that are anticipated in his first day in office.
It is unclear if it would have the status of a federal government agency, although Trump’s post implied it would be the equivalent of the existing Internal Revenue Service, the US’s domestic taxation authority.
“For far too long, we have relied on taxing our great people using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),” he wrote. “Through soft and pathetically weak Trade agreements, the American Economy has delivered growth and prosperity to the World, while taxing ourselves. It is time for that to change.”
During the election campaign, Trump repeatedly suggested eventually abolishing income tax and replacing it as the main source of government revenues with tariffs.
The suggestion for an external revenue service had been mooted earlier in the day by Steve Bannon, Trump’s ally and former White House adviser in his first term, at a conference staged by Politico.
“Tariffs paid for everything up until the early 20th century,” Bannon said. “But you wouldn’t just look at tariffs, you look at everything about how you can charge fees essentially, whether that’s on investment, whether that’s on other things of access to this country. America’s behind the golden door, OK? And this market is the most robust, lucrative market in the world, and we shouldn’t just let people have access, we shouldn’t let foreigners have access to this market and to the American people and American citizens for free.”
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Tariffs on foreign imports are currently collected by the US Customs and Border Protection, an agency under the umbrella of the Department of Homeland Security.
Bannon said the new service should be under the remit of the treasury department and should “take the burden off people on Internal Revenue Services”.
In the weeks since November’s election win, Trump has threatened tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, the US’s two closest trading partners, as well as additional tariffs on Chinese goods.
During the campaign, he threatened to impose import taxes of between 10% and 20% on all foreign goods, despite the warnings of many economists that such a move could fuel inflation.
Reports citing his closest aides have suggested that tariffs could be applied to every foreign country, but would only cover critical imports.
