For nearly a year, there have been promises that tariffs would boost the U.S. economy while other countries foot the bill, but a new study shows nearly all of the tariff burden is falling on U.S. consumers.
According to statistics, Americans are paying 96% of the cost of tariffs as commodity prices rise Research A report released on Monday by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank.
When President Donald Trump announced “Liberation Day” tariffs in April 2025, he claimed: “For decades, our country has been plundered, plundered, raped and plundered by nations near and far, friend and foe alike.” But reports show the tariffs are actually costing Americans more money.
Trump has long used tariffs as leverage in non-trade political disputes. weekend, trump updated He launched a trade war in Europe after Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, Britain, the Netherlands and Finland sent troops to conduct training exercises in Greenland. These countries will beat If the United States does not reach an agreement to purchase Greenland, a 10% tariff will be imposed on February 1st and will increase to 25% on June 1st.
On Monday, Trump threatened French wine 200% tariffafter French President Emmanuel Macron refused to join Trump “Peace Committee” Gaza has a permanent membership of $1 billion.
“The idea that foreign countries pay these tariffs is a myth,” wrote Julian Hintz, research director at the Keele Institute and author of the book. study. “The data shows the opposite: Americans are footing the bill.”
Export prices remained unchanged but volumes fell significantly, the study showed. After the imposition of 50% tariffs on India in August, exports to the United States fell by 18% to 24% compared with the European Union, Canada and Australia. Research shows exporters are shifting sales to other markets so they don’t need to cut volumes or prices.
“The transfer of wealth by foreigners into the United States in the form of tariffs does not exist,” Hintz Tell this wall street journal.
For the study, Hinz and his team analyzed more than 25 million freight records between January 2024 and November 2025, worth nearly $4 trillion. They found that exporters shouldered only 4% of the tariff burden, while U.S. importers largely passed the cost on to consumers.
The tariffs increased customs revenue by $200 billion, but nearly all of it came from U.S. consumers. The study’s authors likened it to a consumption tax in that wealth is transferred from consumers and businesses to the U.S. Treasury.
Trump has also repeatedly claimed that tariffs will boost U.S. manufacturing, but the economy shows manufacturing jobs have fallen every month since April 2025, 60,000 manufacturing jobs lost From Liberation Day to November.
the supreme court is expected A ruling could be made as soon as today on whether Trump’s use of emergency powers to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act is legal. The court initially announced it planned to rule last week but gave no explanation for the delay.
Although the justices seemed skeptical of the government’s authority during oral arguments in November, economists predict The Trump administration will look for other ways to maintain tariffs.