Didnt the piece of shit say the tariff monies would go into a special department only he has access to?

[Eliot Rosewater]

I am sure he did a few weeks ago, that is what is behind the tariffs.

He is going to take them for himself.

[Bluetus]

1. A slush fund

He is talking openly about a "Sovereign Wealth Fund" just like MBS has in Saudi Arabia. And yes, he wants it to be directly under his control.

He has been bullying big law firms to bend the knee. One of the firms has agreed to do pro bono work to set up this slush fund for him. And they probably expect to get paid something from that slush fund.

Surely there must be laws against this sort of thing, but the Supreme Court has ruled that Trump has immunity from prosecution for anything he can claim is an "official duty".

[Eliot Rosewater]

2. Thought so, and watch the GOP do absolutely nothing. Civil war is likely and probably necessary

[gab13by13]

3. He may have said it, but that's not how tariffs are paid.

The company that buys the product pays the extra money then passes it off to the consumer.

Now, when he privatizes government agencies that money can go into his sovereign wealth fund.

[Eliot Rosewater]

4. Right, so what is he referring to? someone is guiding him on this...

[Bluetus]

6. He is referring to a new "Sovereigh Wealth Fund"

There is no basis for any of that anywhere in US law AFAIK. He seems Putin and MBS with gigantic personal slush funds and he's trying to do the same thing. Dems need to be raising hell about this. There could conceivably be hundreds of billions of dollars in this slush fund before long.

[Eliot Rosewater]

8. But where is the money coming from, tariffs are paid by the foreign company

To the importer in the United States that’s importing and then selling the product here, they are not paid to the government as a tax.

So where does this money come from that he’s going to steal, I have no doubt that it will happen I just don’t understand the mechanism and the path of the money.

[Bluetus]

5. The importer is supposed to pay Customs and Border Protection

And that money is supposed to go into the regular treasury.

But Trump is trying to divert this into a private slush fund he will control. Dems need to be raising hell about this so that the media will start asking questions.

[Eliot Rosewater]

9. OK but does the importer already pay that without tariffs existing?

Also who benefits from the tariffs more than any single person on earth, simple answer, Putin. Putin has ordered this to his employee Trump.

[Bluetus]

10. Not sure I understand

If tariffs / duties are in effect, the importer has to pay them. If tariffs are not due, then the important doesn't pay anything.

[LaRaven]

7. Won't he just take -- as a 'sales tax' -- from the increased cost of goods consumers pay?

[Bluetus]

11. I'm not sure who you mean by "he"

The tariffs are paid by the importer and that money goes into the Treasury like any other fee. The distributor or retailer who ultimately received the merchandise pays the importer for the goods plus the tax. Then the retailer passes the whole thing plus profit margin along to the customer.

What is happening here, it seems, is that Trump is trying to use his "get out of jail free" card to divert this tariff money into his own personal slush fund, just as MBS and Putin do.