Do Americans Want More Tariffs?

Over the weekend, President Trump announced that he would impose a 25% tariff on Colombia after it refused landing permissions to multiple deportation flights. In response to the tariffs and other sanctions, the Colombian president offered to help with the deportations but also placed his own tariff on U.S. goods being imported into Colombia. As America enters a second Trump administration, polls show that Americans favor Trump adding additional tariffs but are concerned that they could increase prices.

In the latest poll from TIPP Insights, conducted Jan. 8-10 with 1,424 U.S. adults, 49% supported placing new tariffs on goods imported from other countries, while only 34% were opposed. Among Republicans, support was even higher, with 73% in favor and only 15% opposed.

Part of the justification for the support of tariffs is that 48% believe they will incentivize foreign companies to manufacture in the United States instead of abroad. This could help domestic manufacturing workers, as foreign companies may decide to build factories in the United States to avoid the tariffs.

Many still weren’t convinced that tariffs would be beneficial overall. When asked if raising tariffs would do more to protect American jobs and strengthen the economy or raise consumer costs and harm the economy, 34% said it would help the economy, while 36% said it would raise prices, and 9% said it wouldn’t have much impact either way. This evidence shows that Americans are generally pro-tariff but skeptical of their economic impacts.

In addition to the tariffs that could be placed on Colombia if it doesn’t follow through with accepting the deportation flights, three more tariffs could soon go into effect.

Two of the potential tariffs would be imposed on goods from Mexico and Canada. In November, after being elected, Trump vowed to place a 25% tariff on all products coming into the United States until drugs and “Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!” On Jan. 20, at the executive order signing after the inauguration, he was still considering imposing those tariffs, saying they could be imposed as early as Feb. 1. Mexico and Canada are the two largest trading partners with the United States, meaning a 25% tariff could bring in significant revenues for the U.S. government but also could increase costs.

Both of these tariffs were less favored in polling than general tariffs. In an Economist/YouGov poll conducted Dec. 8-10 after the tariffs were first introduced, only 31% supported the tariff on Canada and 36% on Mexico, while 49% and 45% opposed the respective tariffs. The question in that poll asked about the tariffs without the added context that they would be imposed to incentivize Canada and Mexico to limit illegal immigration and drug trafficking into the United States, meaning the actual tariffs likely have higher support.

The other tariff, a 10% tariff on all goods imported from China, could also start on Feb. 1, “based on the fact that they’re sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada,” Trump said on his second day in office. This tariff could have some of the biggest effects, as although bilateral trade is slightly higher between the U.S. and Mexico/Canada, the United States imports more from China than any other country, meaning the 10% tariff would apply to more goods than the 25% tariffs on its neighbors to the north and south.

During the election campaign, Trump suggested imposing up to a 60% tariff on all goods imported from China. While significantly higher than the temporary 10% tariff on China, the 60% tariff still had more support than the tariffs on Canada and Mexico, with 37% support and 42% opposition in a November post-election Economist poll.