More than half of voters support imposing 10 percent tariffs on all imports as a boost to Trump’s populist, protectionist policies

A majority of voters say they support a 10 percent tariff on all imports, according to an exclusive new poll, in a boost for President Donald Trump‘s plan to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign manufacturers.

According to the latest 2024 JL Partners/DailyMail.com survey, 24 percent of likely voters strongly support the policy proposal, while another 30 percent lean toward supporting it.

Only six percent strongly oppose 10 percent tariffs on all imports, while 11 percent often oppose them.

It shows how the perception of tariffs has changed in recent years, as fans of ex-presidents favor populist, protectionist sentiments in the United States.

But economists warn such a move would lead to higher costs for all Americans as the country continues to be hampered by persistent inflation.

‘Voters are not concerned with the details of the economy. For them, it’s instinctive: Protecting America and imposing tariffs when other countries don’t play fair is a popular proposition,” said James Johnson, co-founder of JL Partners.

“European capitals and companies may be shaking at the idea of ​​Trump 2.0 tariffs, but the American people welcome the policy.”

The poll tested the opinions of 1,005 likely voters on March 21. The poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percent.

Speaking on CNBC earlier this month, Trump declared, “I’m a big believer in tariffs.”

“I fully believe in economics when other countries take advantage of you,” the Republican presidential candidate told Squawk Box in an interview.

The comments came after he first proposed the 10 percent tariffs on all imports last year.

“If companies come in and dump their products in the United States, they automatically have to pay a tax of, say, 10 percent,” Trump said in a Fox Business interview at the time. “I like that 10 percent for everyone.”

Trump has argued that tariffs are aimed at China, but a blanket 10 percent tariff would not only affect imports from China.

Although the U.S. receives the largest amount of imported goods from China, the country supplies only 16.5 percent of total imported goods, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

Some of the other largest importers to the US are Mexico, Canada, Japan and Germany.

The Tax Foundation, a center-right organization, concluded that a 10 percent rate would raise taxes on Americans by more than $300 billion a year and warned that the tariffs, if imposed, would lead to retaliatory tax hikes on U.S. exports.

“Americans would see higher prices for a variety of goods imported across the border, whether those are consumer goods or a company trying to buy intermediate inputs used to produce its final products,” said Erica York, senior economist at the Tax Foundation.

It estimates that a 10 percent tariff on imports would shrink the size of the economy by 0.7 percent and eliminate more than half a million jobs.

Including retaliatory tax hikes, the move would shrink the U.S. economy by 1.1% and threaten more than 825,000 jobs, the Tax Foundation estimates.

“When we see Trump talk about this proposal, he often says he’s going to tax foreign companies. It sounds like if you tax foreign companies you get fewer foreign companies and more domestic ones, but that’s not how the rates work at all,” York said. “They are taxes paid by the company in the US that imports the goods.”

A separate analysis of the 10 percent rate proposal from the Center for American Progress Action Fund, which was founded by Democrats, found it would amount to an annual tax increase of roughly $1,500 for the typical American household.

That would include a $90 tax increase on food, a $90 tax increase on prescription drugs and a $120 tax increase on oil and petroleum products.

During his four years as president, Trump imposed a number of tariffs on China, Mexico and the European Union, including a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent on aluminum.

In total, the tariffs imposed during the Trump administration amounted to an $80 billion tax increase on $380 billion in imports, according to the Tax Foundation analysis.

Multiple studies have found that this move made it more difficult to do business in the US because it increased manufacturers’ input costs.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration kept most of those Trump administration tariffs in place.

23 percent are strongly in favor of maintaining such subsidies and 30 percent are rather in favor of it. Only 10 percent are strongly opposed to maintaining the subsidies, while 8 percent are often against it.

At the same time, the majority also supports lifting restrictions on oil and gas drilling. 33 percent are strongly in favor of lifting restrictions, while 23 percent are inclined to lift such restrictions.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the U.S. broke the record for the highest crude oil production in the country’s history at the end of 2023, when weekly oil production reached 13.3 million barrels per day.

Since then, oil production has remained close to that record level of weekly production.