US President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday said that tariffs alone were responsible for creating vast wealth in the nation during the Second Industrial Revolution, stressing that tariffs can pay off debt and make America wealthy again. Trump made the statement while referring to a chart shared by American businessman Marc Andreessen on the Truth Social platform, which shows tariffs as a percentage of total federal revenue from 1798 to 2023.
Marc Andreessen, sharing the chart, said that the Second Industrial Revolution was perhaps the most fertile era for technology development and deployment in human history. The chart shows data on tariff revenue as a share of total federal receipts from 1798 to 2023. In the chart, the graph shows the highest growth rate between 1870 and 1914, followed by a decline in the subsequent years.
“This is a really remarkable chart of tariffs as % of total federal revenue. The Second Industrial Revolution, perhaps the most fertile era for technology development and deployment in human history, was 1870–1914,” Andreessen wrote in his Truth Social post.
Reacting to the chart, Trump said tariffs were responsible for creating wealth for the US during the peak of tariff revenue as a share of federal receipts. He added that the US then shifted to income tax. According to Trump, tariffs can pay off the nation’s debt and make America wealthy again.
“The Tariffs, and Tariffs alone, created this vast wealth for our Country. Then we switched over to Income Tax. We were never so wealthy as during this period. Tariffs will pay off our debt and MAKE AMERICA WEALTHY AGAIN!” Trump said in his Truth Social post.
Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on countries
Trump previously pledged to reinstate broad tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China as one of his initial executive actions upon taking office on January 26. In a post on his Truth Social platform, he detailed plans for a 25% tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico and an additional 10% levy on goods from China. He described these measures as essential for addressing illegal immigration and combating the drug trade.
The President-elect had also issued threats to BRICS countries regarding tariffs, writing, “The idea that the BRICS Countries are trying to move away from the Dollar, while we standby and watch is OVER. We require a commitment from these Countries that they will neither create a new BRICS currency, nor back any other currency to replace the mighty US Dollar or, they will face 100% tariffs, and should expect to say goodbye to selling into the wonderful US Economy.”
