https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/05/10/trumps-explanation-trade-fight-with-china-is-wrong-remarkable-number-ways/?fbclid=IwAR02oXYiq9bIcPZEpZecY0i87Fxlsk-p2kOThHxT94A7TCu2XbaGeCNRQis&utm_term=.4044656cda6d
"A 25 percent tariff on $575 billion would yield about $144 billion, for what it’s worth. But again: This is not money being paid by China. Some of the tariff fees will be paid by the Chinese manufacturers in an effort to keep costs down, sure. Some will be paid by businesses. But much will be paid by consumers. It’s that $767 tax — a $62.5 billion tax increase nationally. Trump’s worried about farmers because much of what the United States exports to China is agricultural. China’s retaliatory tariff on soybeans dramatically reduced exports to that country, the world’s largest consumer of the crop. Farmers, of course, often live in rural red states that are key to Trump’s base of political support. The government has already moved to bolster farmers with financial support to offset the damage done by the trade war. What Trump’s claiming here, though, is that he’ll take money paid by China in the form of tariffs to buy the farmers’ goods and ship them to other countries — leaving lots of money left over for other funding needs. But we can translate his argument in a less flattering way: Trump is taxing American consumers and using some of that money to buy agricultural products to protect part of his political base from his trade war."
