Donald Trump called for the creation of a new federal agency dedicated to collecting the tariffs he’s threatening to impose on U.S. trading partners — but he was quickly taught there’s already a government entity that does that.
While the president-elect and his allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy have called for the elimination of millions of government jobs and even some federal departments, Trump sketched out a proposal for a new one that suggests his tariff threats are more than just a negotiating tactic.
“For far too long, we have relied on taxing our Great People using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS),” Trump posted. “Through soft and pathetically weak Trade agreements, the American Economy has delivered growth and prosperity to the World, while taxing ourselves.”
“It is time for that to change,” Trump added. “I am today announcing that I will create the EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE to collect our Tariffs, Duties, and all Revenue that come from Foreign sources. We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share. January 20, 2025, will be the birth date of the External Revenue Service. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
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But it seems his newly announced External Revenue Service is redundant because an agency has been collecting external revenue for almost as long as the U.S. has been a sovereign nation.
“The president-elect appears ignorant of the fact that there’s been an ‘external revenue service’ since July 31, 1789,” posted Andrew Feinberg, White House correspondent for The Independent. “That’s when George Washington signed legislation creating the US Customs Service, the forerunner of what is now [the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency].”
