Who Pays for Tariffs? Heres What You Need to Know.

President Trump is moving forward with extensive tariffs on America’s closest trading partners.Beginning Tuesday, companies bringing products into the United States from Canada and Mexico will pay a 25 percent tariff; importers bringing products in from China will pay an additional 10 percent on top of existing levies.The president has insisted that these tariffs will not increase prices for American consumers and that if anyone pays the cost, it will be foreign countries.But a simple review of how tariffs work suggests that is not the case.

Here’s what to know about who pays.Who pays for tariffs up front?A tariff is an extra surcharge put onto a good when it comes into the United States.It is the so-called importer of record — the companies responsible for importing that product — that physically pays tariffs to the federal government.Many importers of record are enrolled in the government’s electronic payment program, and have tariff fees automatically deducted from their bank accounts as they bring products into the country.

Tariff revenue is collected by U.S.Customs and Border Protection, though Mr.

Trump has floated the idea of creating an entirely new agency to deal with money earned from his tariffs.Importers of record can be of any nationality.They can be U.S.

companies or foreign companies with or without a U.S.presence.

They can also be customs agents who work on behalf of other firms to handle their imports and exports.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....