President-elect Donald Trump dropped some more news on Tuesday: he’s looking to set up a new agency called the External Revenue Service. This move is all about collecting tariffs and other cash from foreign nations.
“We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying,” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social. He likened this new agency to the Internal Revenue Service, which handles domestic taxes.
His full announcement read: “For far too long, we have relied on taxing our Great People using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). 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. 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. We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share. January 20, 2025, will be the birth date of the External Revenue Service. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump, who’s all about trimming down the government, is planning to launch a new agency that would take on tasks already managed by other departments like Commerce and Customs and Border Patrol, which already handle duties and revenue collection from foreign countries.
He’s brought in two heavyweights from the business world to run his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, which is a non-governmental task force aimed at finding ways to let go of federal workers, cut programs, and roll back regulations. This is all part of what he’s calling his “Save America” game plan for a second term in the White House.
Billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are at the helm of DOGE, pushing for some serious cuts to the size and reach of the federal government.
Tariffs have become central to Trump’s economic strategy as he gears up for another term, with talk of potentially slapping a 25% tax on goods from allies like Canada and Mexico, and a whopping 60% on products coming from China.
Democratic lawmakers wasted no time in calling out the External Revenue Service plan.
“No amount of silly rebranding will hide the fact that Trump is planning a multi-trillion-dollar tax hike on American families and small businesses to pay for another round of tax handouts to the rich,” Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said in a statement.
