To the editor:

Donald Trump, a Wharton graduate, clearly does not understand tariffs. Simply put, tariffs are a tax on consumers. When the government imposes tariffs, the cost must eventually be paid by the end user. Despite this, Trump said: “All I know is this: We’re going to take in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs, and we’re going to become so rich, you’re not going to know where to spend all that money.”

All that money will be in actuality ours, there will be no increase in American wealth. The government will have more tax revenues and tax-paying companies and consumers will have less. Our foreign trading partners do not pay these tariffs, but tariffs do make foreign goods more expensive, resulting in less trade and more expensive products that are not easily made here.

A refresher economics course at Wharton might be in order for Mr. Trump.

Lee Keet

Saranac Lake