Fox Business Network tried to amplify President Trump’s claims that the U.S. had recorded $150 billion in tariff revenue—but it forgot to mention who pays the cost.
The Fox News sister channel’s X account posted a fawning post on Tuesday that noted Trump had “hit a record high in tariff revenue, collecting a staggering $150 billion from foreign countries since implementing the policy.” It also said the July total was $28 billion, “highlighting the unprecedented impact of his trade agenda.”
But X users were quick to affix a community note, which allows readers to provide additional context to posts, explaining who actually paid the tariff costs.
“The $150 billion was collected from American businesses and consumers, not foreign countries,” it read, citing a Tax Foundation article that explained how U.S. businesses pay the cost to the federal government through taxes.
Hours later, the note no longer appeared below the Fox Business tweet.
“No, we did not collect ‘a staggering $150 billion from foreign countries,’ we collected it from American consumers,” read one typical quote tweet on the post from conservative columnist David Harsanyi.
Fox News did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
The Fox Business story on the revenue did note that U.S. consumers could face higher prices from Trump’s tariffs. Trump imposed new 25% tariffs on India on Wednesday.
