Given the size of the lettering, and the similarities to the deals secured with Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan this week, we should take Donald Trump at his word on this one. Put simply: so long as other countries cut taxes for their businesses, he will\u00a0hike taxes on American businesses<\/a>\u00a0ever so slightly less. It doesn\u2019t feel so triumphant when spelled out \u2013 yet that is exactly what the Trump administration is in the process of signing into law.<\/p>\n The President will never frame it this way. He promised the electorate countless times on the campaign trail that every other country would pay for higher import taxes. That\u2019s still his message: \u201cThe Philippines will pay a 19% Tariff,\u201d he insisted yesterday, as will Indonesia when the I\u2019s are dotted and the T\u2019s crossed. And \u201cJapan will pay Reciprocal Tariffs to the United States of 15%.\u201d What a bargain.\u00a0<\/p>\n The trouble for Trump is that while he can make good on his promise to hike tariffs, he cannot make good on the economic fantasy he sold alongside them: that other countries would shoulder the tax bill. The Philippines won\u2019t be paying a 19 percent tariff; American importers will be picking up that tab. Japan will not be shoving out for a 15 percent tax on its exports. American business owners will be paying that tax on the goods and materials they import. It\u2019s\u00a0estimated<\/a>\u00a0these tariffs<\/a> will amount to the largest tax rise in decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n The evidence is already in. The 10 percent tariff baseline Trump brought in for every trading partner worldwide has sent revenue from import taxes skyward. Revenue\u00a0rose to nearly<\/a>\u00a0$70 billion in the first five months of 2025, a 78 percent increase on the year before, thanks to American businesses paying those higher duties. Moody\u2019s Analytics\u00a0estimates<\/a>\u00a0that at the current revenue-raising rate, the total income of tariffs could rise to a staggering $300 billion by the end of the year. It\u2019s a monumental transfer of income, not from other countries to the United States, but from American businesses and their workers to the US federal government.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, America\u2019s trading partners are slashing taxes on their businesses, as per the terms and conditions of Trump\u2019s trade deals. Lucky them. Life just got cheaper, and consumer choice just improved for Filipinos, Indonesians and the Japanese. It\u2019s a big service Trump has done for the people in those countries, who are about to reap the benefits of \u201cOPEN\u201d markets which the President has demanded they enjoy. It\u2019s a generous, even magnanimous side of Trump we don\u2019t always get to see. It is not, however, in line with the \u201cAmerica First\u201d agenda he claims to be pushing, nor does it suit the low-tax narrative the President\u00a0burned bridges and bromances<\/a>\u00a0to deliver.<\/p>\n Proponents of Trump\u2019s trade agenda \u2013 who are willing to stomach Americans paying to rebalance trade deficits with the rest of the world \u2013 insist the benefits will reveal themselves in due course, in the form of higher wages for blue-collar American workers. This assumes wage increases will\u00a0offset<\/a>\u00a0the estimated $1,296 that the Tax Foundations expects the current tariff regime to cost the average household. But advocates should be far more worried about the billion-dollar profit loss\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0by General Motors this week. The automaker employs roughly\u00a0100,000 workers<\/a>\u00a0who are supposedly set to benefit from Trump\u2019s tariff regime. What happens to them as the tariffs eat away at their employer\u2019s profits?<\/p>\n If there is one achievement to be noted from this past week, it is not the \u201cart of the deal\u201d the President has delivered for the American people. Rather, it\u2019s how successfully he has managed to move the goal posts around what constitutes \u201cfree trade\u201d in recent months. With the memory of spiraling stock markets still largely at the forefront of investors\u2019 minds, markets have been jubilantly celebrating the news that America\u2019s tariff on Japanese imports has dropped by ten percentage points from Trump\u2019s proposed 25 percent levy.\u00a0<\/p>\n That is a remarkable feat for the President, who loves nothing more than to boast of a soaring stock market, a booming economy and a country that is always \u201cwinning.\u201d But if he continues to sign away America\u2019s ability to be competitive in a world that, under his command, will be trading more freely, expect the good news to be short-lived.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/k800.jpg\")
<\/p>\n