Donald Trump’s plan for blanket global tariffs isn’t just roiling the stock market and triggering international upheaval — it’s also opening the door for Trump to relaunch the tariff corruption game of his first term, in which the White House used the trade levies to punish opponents and reward donors. And this time around, Trump’s fired the government watchdog set to oversee such matters.
Already Trump has suspended the tariffs for electronics and is considering exempting cars as well — good news for Trump super PAC donor Elon Musk and Apple CEO Tim Cook, who personally delivered $1 million to Trump’s inauguration. During his first term, Trump offered key exemptions to major firms, including Apple, in a process that internal auditors had previously described as “neither transparent nor objective.”
While tariff exemptions were designed to aid products that aren’t available domestically, they’ve become a political tool benefiting large and politically connected businesses. A recent study of China tariffs during Trump’s first term found that companies donating to and lobbying Republicans were more likely to win exemptions, while firms supporting Democrats were less likely. Researchers found that granting companies tariff exemptions — which increased firms’ average market value by $51 million — was “a very effective spoils system allowing the administration of the day to reward its political friends and punish its enemies.”
In 2019, the Commerce Department’s inspector general, who audits and investigates the department for wrongdoing, found that “a lack of transparency” around Trump officials’ handling of steel and aluminum tariffs “contributes to the appearance of improper influence in decision-making for tariff exclusion requests.” Among other concerns, the office found zero records of what transpired in more than one hundred meetings between officials and companies.
A follow-up 2021 inspector general report found the exclusion process was based on incomplete and contradictory information, including whether companies were able to manufacture the products domestically — the primary reason for tariff exclusions.
Another independent monitoring agency, the US Government Accountability Office, voiced similar concerns about Trump’s China tariffs, finding that trade officials were missing documents detailing internal procedures for the 53,000 tariff exemption requests they received between 2018 and 2020.
As part of his February purge of government watchdogs, Trump fired Joe Biden’s choice for Commerce Department inspector general. In her place stepped Roderick Anderson — who was previously removed from the position with bipartisan support after being implicated in alleged whistleblower retaliation. A lawmaker who helped remove Anderson sounded the alarm about his return, noting, “The work of the Commerce Department [inspector general] is more important than ever as President Trump and Elon Musk continue their assault on the federal government.”
But for now, Anderson will oversee the agency’s likely opaque and lucrative business of Trump’s tariff exemptions.