Americans, not other countries, paid Trump's tariffs in 2025

[LetMyPeopleVote]

trump is in denial as to who pays his stupid tariffs

A friendly reminder on who pays the tariffs. www.usatoday.com/story/money/...

— IntrovertWithCoffee ☕️ 🐦‍🔥 (@laterdays.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T18:56:02.862Z

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2026/02/15/americans-paid-trump-tariffs-2025-inflation/88692687007/

American consumers and companies paid nearly 90% of the cost of President Donald Trump’s tariffs through late 2025, according to a new report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The study adds to a growing body of evidence indicating American families pay a price for Trump’s import taxes, despite the president's assertion that the financial burden falls entirely on other countries.

Trump's tariffs equated to a tax increase of $1,000 per household in 2025, according to a Feb. 6 report from the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. Households are expected to pay an additional $1,300 in 2026.

The tariffs are the largest U.S. tax increase since 1993, according to the Tax Foundation analysis. Tariffs are a tax − but on whom?....

Through August 2025, 94% of the import taxes fell on American companies and consumers, according to the study. By November, the “pass-through” rate had dipped to 86%.

“In sum, U.S. firms and consumers continue to bear the bulk of the economic burden of the high tariffs imposed in 2025,” the researchers wrote.

[ProfessorGAC]

1. Pretty Good Explanation Of Pass Through

My only objection is where they day trump expected cost of goods to fall enough to offset the tariffs.
I don't believe that
He actually thought the exporters or their countries were going to pay that cost as cash.
No way he understood the concept of pass through pricing.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. Maddowblog-White House eyes punishments for economists who told the truth about tariffs, consumers

Donald Trump’s top economist didn’t just disagree with consensus economic research, he also suggested he wants to see researchers “disciplined.”

Link to tweet

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-eyes-punishments-for-economists-who-told-the-truth-about-tariffs-consumers

Unfortunately for the White House, almost a year after Trump advanced his tariffs agenda, experts have scrutinized the evidence and concluded that their predictions were correct. From the Congressional Budget Office to international scholars to the National Bureau of Economic Research, all of the available data points in the same direction: American consumers, not foreign companies, are paying more as a result of the Republican president’s policy.

Last week, still more evidence emerged. Research published by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Columbia University found that, through last fall, 90% of the economic burden from Trump’s tariffs fell on Americans, not foreigners.....

The trouble is, Team Trump doesn’t want economists and researchers to make reality clear.

Hassett on new study from NY Fed showing 90% of tariff burden is being shouldered by US firms & consumers: "The paper is an embarrassment. It's I think the worst paper I've ever seen in the history of the Fed system. The people associated with this paper should presumably be disciplined."

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-02-18T14:18:16.156Z

....Justin Wolfers, an economist at the University of Michigan, mocked Hassett’s on-air comments, writing via Bluesky, “Happy Kevin wants economists to be disciplined by their bosses for contradicting the regime’s understanding of The Truth.”

Paul Krugman released a related video on the subject, making a compelling case that Hassett’s call to discipline economists was “thuggish.” Krugman added, “That’s incredible. That’s like saying, ‘If you carefully study the data and come up with results that we in the Trump administration don’t like, we will punish you personally — or we will try to.”

In all likelihood, if the White House were serious about targeting the researchers, those efforts would fail. But as Krugman concluded, the public threat is itself “horrible.”

The war on dissent is ongoing, and there’s every reason to believe it’s getting worse.