Trump regularly brags that the United States reaps billions of dollars from tariffs he has imposed on other countries, such as China But tariffs — essentially a tax — are generally paid by importers, such as U.S. companies, who in turn pass on most or all of the costs to consumers or producers who may use Chinese materials in their products. So, ultimately, Americans are footing the bill for Trump’s tariffs, not the Chinese. The president is fooling himself if he thinks otherwise. Moreover, the China tariff revenue has been greatly reduced by payments the government has made to farmers who lost business because China stopped buying U.S. soybeans, hogs, cotton and other products in response. As of December 2018, the government said it will cut nearly $9.6 billion in checks, including $7.3 billion to soybean farmers, $580 million to pork farmers and $554 million to cotton farmers; at the time, only about $8 billion had been collected on Chinese goods. Trump then announced an additional bailout for farmers of $16 billion in 2019, for a total of $28 billion. Through Jan. 13, 2021, the Trump tariffs have garnered about $75 billion on products from China, according to Customs and Border Protection.