Today my repug neighbor said the dumbest thing ever about tariffs & coronavirus.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Depends On Industry

But there was a Business Week article that detailed how much the Chinese banking system paid the US government for tariffs.
PINO crowed about it for a week until it was tamped down by commentary about where the $ really came from.
So yeah, a substantial portion of the money does come directly from China.

What you say is likely accurate in components. The importer pays it, the middle manufacturer pays a higher price, & the market price of assembled goods go up.
But, direct goods for consumption are paid government to government in many cases.

I know that the chemical industry had to petition for basic bulk chemical being sent from China to their own sites both there & in the US not be considered a component because the alternative was to import the finished goods. It was an argument that was successful.