NO WAY! - I Can’t Believe President Trump Just Did This!
The Trump administration is gearing up to launch a brand-new agency, the “External Revenue Service,” which will be responsible for collecting tariffs. Officials believe this move could pave the way for dismantling the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
During a cabinet meeting on Monday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick expressed his enthusiasm for April 2, a date President Trump has dubbed “liberation day” for the country. Lutnick also referenced the upcoming launch of the External Revenue Service, though it remained unclear whether the agency would officially begin operations on that day.
According to the administration, the creation of this new agency is part of Trump’s broader trade strategy, aiming to expedite tariff collection. Supporters argue that the additional revenue will contribute to tax reductions for Americans and help phase out the IRS, currently the federal government’s primary tax-collecting entity, as reported by Newsweek.
In his inauguration speech, President Trump stated that the External Revenue Service would oversee the collection of “all tariffs, duties, and revenues.”
Trump initially introduced the idea on Truth Social, explaining that the U.S. would “begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share.”
His first official memo, titled America First Trade Policy, directed the Secretary of the Treasury, along with the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Commerce, to assess the feasibility of establishing this new agency.
Currently, tariffs are handled by customs agencies in the countries that import goods. In the U.S., this responsibility falls under U.S. Customs and Border Protection. However, the administration has yet to confirm whether this duty will be reassigned to the External Revenue Service or another agency.
Last month, in an interview with Fox News, Lutnick emphasized that Trump’s ultimate objective was to “get rid of the Internal Revenue Service and make everyone else pay.” He asserted that the External Revenue Service would play a crucial role in achieving this goal.
Despite these plans, economists and tax policy analysts told Newsweek that the External Revenue Service would not be able to fully replace the IRS due to the disparity between tax revenues and tariff collections—even if tariffs were significantly increased.
A report from the Peterson Institute for International Economics in June highlighted this gap, noting that tariffs on imported goods totaled $3.1 trillion in 2023, whereas income taxes exceeded $20 trillion.
During Monday’s cabinet meeting, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick addressed Trump, saying: “What is so exciting is April 2 is just around the corner and that’s American Liberation Day. That’s the day when the rest of the world starts to treat America with respect—and your leadership, understanding how the rest of the world treats us and what balance and what fair trade finally is going to be, is going to take care of America, it’s going to launch the external revenue service, to start to build the power and prestige of America back, and I’m honored to be helping you on that course.”
President Trump, in his inauguration speech, declared: “I will immediately begin the overhaul of our trade system to protect American workers and families. Instead of taxing our citizens to enrich other countries, we will tariff and tax foreign countries to enrich our citizens. For this purpose, we are establishing the External Revenue Service to collect all tariffs, duties, and revenues. It will be massive amounts of money pouring into our Treasury, coming from foreign sources.”
During Monday’s cabinet meeting, Trump remarked: “It’s an interesting term right—the External Revenue Service? We’re going to take in a lot of money from the outside and that’s going to keep our taxes low, and I think getting a lot lower. It’s going to be a lot of money. The external will take care of the internal to a large extent.”