Tariffs have cost U.S. households $1,200 each since Trump returned to the White House

https://apnews.com/article/trump-tariffs-household-costs-inflation-398e0caf9536de6c63f0d1196c54f453

Tariffs have cost U.S. households $1,200 each since Trump returned to the White House, Democrats say
By PAUL WISEMAN
Updated 5:34 AM CST, December 11, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sweeping taxes on imports have cost the average American household nearly $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 Thursday found that American consumers’ share of the bill came to nearly $159 billion — or $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 Sen. 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.”

Economist Kimberly Clausing of the UCLA School of Law and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, last week told a House subcommittee that Trump’s tariffs amount to “the largest tax increase on American consumers in a generation, lowering standards of living for all Americans.’' Clausing, a Treasury Department tax official in the Biden administration, has calculated that Trump’s import taxes ”amount to an annual tax increase of about $1,700 for an average household.’'

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