WASHINGTON: The United States could collect as much as $ 300 billion in customs revenue at the end of this year, State Caquales Secretary Scott Bessent has said.
He told a cabinet meeting in the White House that most of the money came from President Donald Trump’s new import tasks that began to take effect in the second quarter.
So far, the government has brought about $ 100 billion, but Bessent believes collections will rise sharply in the coming months.
“So we could expect it to be well over $ 300 billion by the end of the year,” Bessent said.
A spokesman for the Treasury said the $ 300 billion target is equivalent to the December 31st of the Calendar 2025, not the end of the government’s financial year on September 30.
Reaching $ 300 billion in customs collections this year would entail an exponential increase in collections in the coming months and steep and wide customs rises from the current levels.
Bessent added that the congress budget office has estimated customs income will amount to approx. $ 2.8 trillion over 10 years, ‘which we think is likely to be low.’
Treasury reported record grossed duty of $ 22.8 billion in May, an almost quadrupled increase from $ 6.2 billion a total of a year earlier.
It brought customs collections in the first eight months of the 2025 financial year to $ 86.1 billion. Collections for the first five months of calendar 2025 amounted to $ 63.4 billion.
The Treasury must report June budget results on Friday, which is expected to show another significant increase in customs collections. Per. 30 June topped combined Customs and Excise Collections $ 122 billion for the financial year to date, according to the daily State Championship accounts.
Trump has set a new deadline on August 1 for higher ‘mutual’ tariffs set to kick in on almost all trading partners, with room for negotiations with some countries in the next three weeks to offer them lower.
“The big money starts coming in on August 1st. I think it was made clear today by the letters sent yesterday and today,” Trump said.
During the same cabinet meeting, Trump also announced that he would impose a 50% duty on copper import, a metal used in everything from housing to consumer electronics, vehicles, power networks and military hardware. He also said that additional tariffs were coming on semiconductors and pharmaceutical drugs.
