Nearly $50 billion in extra customs revenues have been collected through President Donald Trump's tariffs after only two trading partners, China and Canada, fought back.
According to data published by the U.S. Treasury, revenues from customs duties reached $64 billion in the second quarter of this year, or $47 billion more than the same period last year, reports Financial Times on Wednesday.
China has imposed the most significant tariffs on American imports, but overall income from customs duties only amounted to 1.9% higher in May 2025 than a year ago.
Canada has not yet released second-quarter customs data, but still, duties imposed on American experts are only a fraction of the revenue figures recorded during the same time.
Some of the United States' trading partners opted against retaliatory tariffs while continuing to negotiate with Trump.
The European Union has now linked counter-tariffs to Trump's Aug. 1 deadline for talks, but has repeatedly decided against implementing the tariffs.
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Further, experts say that the cost of Trump's tariffs do not fall entirely on U.S. consumers, with major international brands like Apple looking to spread cost increases globally and ease the impact of higher prices on the U.S. market.
"Global brands can try and swallow some of the tariff cost through smart sourcing and cost savings but the majority will have to be distributed across other markets, because U.S. consumers might swallow a 5% increase, but not 20 or even 40," said Simon Geale, executive vice-president at Proxima, a supply chain consultancy owned by Bain & Company.
The lack of response to Trump's tariffs is forestalling a spiral effect that destroyed global trade between the two world wars.
Economists also said that most countries aren't reacting timidly because they are afraid, but out of common sense, given Trump's threats to double taxes on trading partners that fight back.
"Unlike the 1930s when countries had more balanced trading relationships, today’s world features a hub-and-spoke system with the U.S. at the center," Marta Bengoa, professor of international economics at City University of New York, told the Financial Times. "That makes retaliation economically less desirable for most countries, even when it might be politically satisfying."
Mexico, the United States' largest trading partner, has not retaliated after it was hit with 25% tariffs in March, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum saying she preferred to reach a deal.
In the EU, fears over whether a fight with Trump on tariffs could undermine the United States' security guarantees, including backing for Ukraine, have resulted in caution on tariffs.
Meanwhile, U.S. tariffs on China climbed to 145% by mid-April, but both sides agreed to a 90-day pause, starting in May, and cut the rate to 30%.
Canada imposed nearly $155 billion in retaliatory tariffs, including on steel and auto parts, but has backed down after pressure from the United States.
Recently elected Canadian Premier Mark Carney, who promised to confront Trump, withdrew a digital services tax and did not match Trump on doubling steel tariffs to 50%.
He ditched a digital services tax under U.S. pressure and did not match Trump's decision last month to double steel tariffs to 50%.
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"Carney's 'elbows up' rhetoric worked during the election campaign, but we can't be confrontational with the U.S.," said Dan Nowlan, an adviser to former Conservative Canadian premier Stephen Harper. "It’s now a much more realist approach."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.