Sri Lanka, Aug. 18 -- U.S. economists deem that hiking tariffs may slow the growth of U.S. debts but not achieve any significant reduction, said a report released by the Fortune magazine on its website on Sunday.

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that revenues from raised tariffs could both reduce America's national debt of 37 trillion U.S. dollars and fund a public "dividend."

His primary purpose is "to pay down debt, which will happen in very large quantity," while there is also a possibility that "we're taking in so much money that we may very well make a dividend to the people of America," Trump said earlier this month.

The Fortune's report, citing some U.S. economists, expressed skepticism over the president's cla...