Sweeping taxes on imports have cost the average American household nearly US$1,200 since Donald Trump returned to the White House this year, according to calculations by Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.
Using Treasury Department numbers on revenue from tariffs and Goldman Sachs estimates of who ends up paying for them, the Democrats’ report on Thursday found that American consumers’ share of the bill came to nearly US$159 billion – or US$1,198 per household – from February through November.
“This report shows that [Trump’s] tariffs have done nothing but drive prices even higher for families,” said Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the economic committee. “At a time when both parties should be working together to lower costs, the president’s tax on American families is simply making things more expensive.”
In his second term, Trump has reversed decades of US policy in favour of free trade, imposing double-digit tariffs on almost every country on earth. According to Yale University’s Budget Lab, the average US tariff has shot up from 2.4 per cent at the beginning of the year to 16.8 per cent, the highest since 1935.
The president argues that the import taxes will protect US industries from unfair foreign competition, bring factories to the United States and raise money for the Treasury.