Democrats claim American families have quietly paid an extra $1,200 due to Trump’s tariffs
The emergency tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump's administration back in April have cost each American household between $54.65 to $181.29 each month, or about $1,200 in total, in the last 10 months, according to calculations by Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee (JEC). In a report released on Tuesday, the JEC argued that the tariffs have hurt the common people and are creating significant challenges for families.
Drawing data from the U.S. Treasury Department and Goldman Sachs estimates of who ends up paying for them, the JEC estimated that American consumers paid over $158 billion in total tariff costs, and the average amount paid by each household stood at $1,197, between February and November. The data noted that households paid about $54.65 before the tariff costs, before the president used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose sweeping reciprocal tariffs. The number has since surged to $181.29 in November, as per the JEC report, and the committee estimated that if the tariffs remained as high as they were in the previous month, families would pay $2,100 on average over the next 12 months.
“This report shows that (Trump’s) tariffs have done nothing but drive prices even higher for families,” Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the economic committee, told AP News. “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, " she added.
The sweeping tariffs were rolled back by President Trump in early April on what he called the "Liberation Day" for America. That month alone, the import duties surged to $15.6 billion, and the number climbed steadily to over $29 billion per month, reaching the peak of $31.35 billion in October. Last week, Economist Kimberly Clausing of the UCLA School of Law and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told a House subcommittee that the tariffs have amounted to “the largest tax increase on American consumers in a generation, lowering standards of living for all Americans.’' According to Clausing's calculations, the tax increase amounted to about $1,700 on average for each household.
However, the Trump Administration recently issued a few rollbacks to ease the prices of groceries and other items in the country. Due to this and some other factors, the tariff revenue dipped to $30.8 billion in November, marking the first time a succeeding month brought in lesser revenue, as per CNBC. Despite the pushback, the administration has argued that tariffs are necessary to ensure U.S. trade security from unfair foreign competition. Even with an impending Supreme Court decision on the legality of the tariffs, the president and members of his administration have expressed their intent to keep the tariffs going.
“President Trump’s tariffs have actually secured trillions in investments to make and hire in America, as well as historic trade deals that finally level the playing field for American workers and industries. Democrats spent decades complaining about lopsided trade deals undermining the American working class, and now they’re complaining about the one president who has done something about it," White House Spokesman Kush Desai said to AP News.
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