Americans Are the Ones Paying for Tariffs, Study Finds

Research contradicts President Trump’s claim that foreigners are footing the bill, and could weaken his hand in the dispute over Greenland

By Tom Fairless of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Americans, not foreigners, are bearing almost the entire cost of U.S. tariffs, according to new research [published  by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy]"

"suggests that the impact of tariffs is likely to show up over time in the form of higher U.S. consumer prices."

[other research] "by the Budget Lab at Yale and economists at Harvard Business School, finding that only a small fraction of the tariff costs were being borne by foreign producers."

"foreign exporters absorbed only about 4% of the burden of last year’s U.S. tariff increases by lowering their prices, while American consumers and importers absorbed 96%."

"Indian exporters maintained their prices but reduced the volume of shipments to the U.S. by 18%-24% relative to the European Union, Canada and Australia"

"The $200 billion in additional U.S. tariff revenue last year “was paid almost exclusively by Americans”" 

"only around 20% of the tariffs had fed into higher consumer prices six months after their introduction, with the bulk eaten by U.S. importers and retailers."