XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.trump   
   From: super70s@super70s.invalid   
      
   Americans, not other countries, paid Trump's tariffs in 2025   
   By Daniel de Vise   
   USA TODAY   
   Sun, February 15, 2026 at 1:42 PM CST   
      
   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 another $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?   
      
   On the campaign trail in September 2024, promoting tariffs, Trump told   
   supporters, "It's not going to be a cost to you, it's going to be a   
   cost to another country."   
      
   Trump repeated the claim in a Jan. 30 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal,   
   writing, "The data shows that the burden, or 'incidence,' of the   
   tariffs has fallen overwhelmingly on foreign producers and middlemen,   
   including large corporations that are not from the U.S."   
      
   The New York Fed study, published Feb. 12, suggests otherwise.   
      
   Trump's tariffs are mostly a tax on Americans   
      
   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.   
      
   The study affirms what many economists had predicted: That Trump's   
   tariffs would be mostly a tax on Americans.   
      
   "The study by the New York Fed confirms what most economists expected   
   -- U.S. consumers and businesses pay most of the costs from the Trump   
   tariffs," said Wayne Winegarden, senior fellow in economics at the   
   Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank.   
      
   The Wall Street Journal seized on the report in a Feb. 13 editorial,   
   opining, "No matter how often President Trump insists his tariffs are   
   taxing foreigners to enrich the U.S., economic studies keep showing   
   that Americans actually pay the bill."   
      
   Through late 2025, tariffs added about 0.7 percentage points to the   
   U.S. inflation rate, according to a November paper by the National   
   Bureau of Economic Research. In other words, without tariffs, the   
   inflation rate for September might have dropped from 3% to 2.3%.   
      
   Tariffs have elevated prices on many imported items   
      
   Trump's tariffs have inflated prices across a host of imported items,   
   an effect visible in the January inflation report. The price of   
   household furnishings and supplies rose 3.8% from January 2025 to   
   January 2026. Furniture and bedding prices rose 4%. Prices for dishes   
   and flatware rose 5%.   
      
   Tariffs are complicated. The actual costs are typically split between   
   exporters in one country and importers in another.   
      
   The New York Fed provided this example:   
      
   Imagine a foreign exporter charges $100 for a product, and the U.S.   
   government imposes a 25% tariff. If the exporter doesn't lower the   
   price, the importer pays a $25 tariff, increasing the total price to   
   $125. That means 100% of the tax falls on American consumers and   
   companies.   
      
   In the same example, imagine the exporter responds to the tariff by   
   lowering the price to $80. Now, the importer pays a $20 tariff, and the   
   total import price remains $100. The exporter effectively absorbs all   
   of the tax.   
      
   As it turned out, most exporters didn't lower prices much in response   
   to Trump's tariffs. A 94% pass-through rate means the typical foreign   
   exporter responded to a 10% tariff by reducing prices 0.6%, or 6 cents   
   for every $10.   
      
   As exporters and importers absorbed the impact of Trump's tariffs,   
   their impact softened at every step. Some exporters trimmed prices.   
   American companies found cheaper products from other countries or   
   absorbed part of the tariff themselves.   
      
   In the end, roughly 20% of Trump's tariffs reached actual consumers,   
   according to the National Bureau of Economic Research paper.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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