The brunt of US tariffs — 96% — have been paid by US buyers, research from the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank, found, while about 4% of the tariff burden was paid by foreign exporters.
"American importers and consumers bear nearly all the cost," the researchers said of the tariffs. The study, published Monday, said that the $200 billion increase in customs revenue that the US government raised in 2025 was a "tax paid almost entirely by Americans."
The research contradicts Trump's messaging that tariff costs would not be paid by Americans, but by other countries and overseas exporters. The president's aggressive tariff policy launched last year placed additional duties on dozens of trade partners, including China, India, and the European Union.
I remember watching a video where a US politician was asked "who pays tariffs," and after an initial unsuccessful attempt at weaseling out of the question, said something along the lines of "well if the foreign companies cared about their customers, they would pay it by lowering prices to factor in tariffs."
So good to know capitalists don't even know the first thing about capitalism.