Posted on August 27, 2025
It is not a surprise that U.S. customs duties continued to soar in August, and even a bit higher than in June and July, when customs duties were already at record high levels. We estimate customs duties for August at about $31 billion, much higher than the $7 billion per month that they averaged in 2024, and even higher than the $27 billion they totaled in both June and July of this year (see chart below). The U.S. importers pay customs duties to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP, a part of the Department of Homeland Security) largely on one day each month, usually on the 15th business day, for duties accumulated during the prior month. Thus, the duties collected represent activity largely from the prior month. We just observed the large August payment to CBP as reported in the Daily Treasury Statement. (We measure the monthly amounts starting from the day after one month’s large payment day to the next large payment.)
We discussed the Administration’s discretion in setting tariff rates and some of the economic effects of the increases in customs duties in a post last month. Customs duties have become the fourth largest source of federal revenue, now surpassing the sum of revenue from the different excise taxes, and behind revenue only from individual income taxes, social insurance (payroll) taxes, and corporate income taxes. It doesn’t look like the higher amounts of customs duties are dissipating anytime soon.
