US President-elect Donald Trump has announced his intention to create a new department called the Internal Revenue Service, which will be designed to collect "duties, duties and all receipts" from foreign sources.
Trump posted on his platform Truth Social that he would establish the new department immediately after taking office on January 20.
"Through weak trade deals, the American economy has brought growth and prosperity to the world while taxing ourselves. It's time to change that," Trump wrote on Tuesday.
"We're going to start charging those who make money off us through trade, and they're going to finally start paying their fair share."
Trump compared the proposed department to the Internal Revenue Service.
Establishing the new agency would require congressional approval, but Trump enjoys strong support in Congress, where Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate.
Critics point out that the proposed department would essentially oversee the same functions handled by existing agencies, including the U.S. Commerce Department and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which collect duties and revenue from other countries.
As he ran for re-election, Trump also pledged to shrink the size of the federal government, although he has since proposed the creation of several new agencies and advisory committees.
For example, Trump has announced his intention to create the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), a non-governmental organization that will provide advice on how to streamline the bureaucracy and cut federal spending.
The proposal also raised suspicions that it would duplicate the functions of existing government agencies and advisory committees. Trump named entrepreneurs Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the planned efficiency group.
His new proposal to create an "IRS" comes after he repeatedly promised to impose steep tariffs on America's three largest trading partners: Canada, Mexico and China.
For example, shortly after being elected in November, Trump called on Canada and Mexico to impose a 25% tariff on goods exported to the United States to force the two countries to crack down on cross-border drug trafficking and illegal trade. migrant.
He has also pledged to impose a 10% tariff on global imports into the United States and a 60% tariff on Chinese goods - tariffs that experts say will raise costs for consumers and trigger retaliation against U.S. exports.
The U.S. imports more than it exports from Mexico, Canada and China. Canada's trade deficit last year was $67.9 billion, Mexico's was $152.4 billion and China's was $279.4 billion, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
The fact that the United States runs trade deficits with many of its trading partners has dogged Trump since his first term and was cited as one of the reasons he launched a trade war against China in 2018.
“Trump views relationships in terms of whether the United States has a trade deficit or a trade surplus with a country,” Steve Okun, chief executive of Singapore-based consultancy APAC Advisors, told Al Jazeera last year. "If the U.S. has a trade deficit with a country, it can usually be addressed through tariffs."
Some critics argue that the announcement of a new tariff collection agency is a branding exercise rather than a substantive policy solution.
“This is smart marketing,” Washington Post economics columnist Heather Long wrote on social media platform X, “but it doesn’t change the fact that American consumers will ultimately pay higher tariffs.”
Democratic lawmakers were also quick to criticize the IRS plan.
Senate Democratic leader Ron Wyden said: "No amount of stupid rebranding can hide the fact that Trump is planning to raise taxes on American families and small businesses by trillions of dollars to pay for another... A round of tax handouts to the wealthy," the Finance Committee said in a statement.