President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he will create a new federal agency to collect the tariffs he’s threatening to impose on goods from other countries, but there is already a government entity that does that.
“For far too long, we have relied on taxing our Great People using the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Through soft and pathetically weak Trade agreements, the American Economy has delivered growth and prosperity to the World, while taxing ourselves,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“It is time for that to change,” Trump added. “I am today announcing that I will create the EXTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE to collect our Tariffs, Duties, and all Revenue that come from Foreign sources. We will begin charging those that make money off of us with Trade, and they will start paying, FINALLY, their fair share. January 20, 2025, will be the birth date of the External Revenue Service. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
So, presidents do not have the authority to create new federal agencies, that is the role of Congress, according to the Constitution.
Trump’s ‘External Revenue Service’ is also redundant given that the Customs and Border Protection, a part of the Department of Homeland Security, is in charge of collecting tariffs, Forbes noted.
Furthermore, creating a new agency, a redundant one at that, undermines the goals of Trump’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), co-chaired by entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk.
Shortly after he won the November election Trump announced the creation of DOGE to regulate government spending.
Musk said in November that he hopes to cut the number of federal agencies from over 400 to 99 or less.
