Next, and most important, the tariffs are not being paid to the United States by China. The tariffs are being paid on Chinese goods purchased by American consumers and businesses. In other words, the money does not come from China. It comes from Americans. It is a new tax on Americans from the president who promised to cut taxes but has proven to be really bad at that too. Poorer Americans who often buy lower-priced Chinese manufactured goods such as shoes and clothes will end up being those hurt most, just as they were the ones to benefit least from the Trump-GOP tax cuts.

Now this is a mistake Trump makes over and over. He just doesn’t get who is paying or being hurt by the tariffs. Except, apparently when it comes to farmers. He cares about them, which is why he is promising to use the money from the tariffs to buy products from the farmers that Chinese, retaliating against the U.S. tariffs, are declining to buy. He does not seem to understand the size of the deficit the U.S. has racked up. To put it in terms he can follow, it’s yuge.

So yuge big that the tariffs won’t make a dent in it. So the relief payments to farmers will have to be borrowed by the U.S. Who do we borrow from? Yup, that’s right. We borrow a bunch from the Chinese. So, we are going to pay them for money we are going to use to pay off farmers injured by bad U.S. policies thus enabling the Chinese to make money off the trade war.