The tariffs imposed by President Trump as part of his trade war with China are mainly cutting into retailers' profits rather than raising costs for consumers, according to a new study.
The finding, published in a paper circulated by the National Bureau of Economic Research on Monday, runs counter to the narratives advanced by both critics and defenders of the tariffs. Trump has repeatedly insisted that the tariffs are a net gain for the United States because they are paid by the Chinese and result in additional Treasury Department revenue. Critics of Trump's tariffs, especially in the business community, have argued that they amount to taxes on businesses and, especially, consumers, to whom the increased costs are usually passed along.
The study indicated that while businesses are being hurt, consumers haven't felt much pain so far. It found that a 20% tariff on a product was associated with an increase of only about 1% in the product's retail price. Those increases are not likely to have much impact on consumers, it noted.
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Take one for the team.
ReplyDeleteI don't care who it hurts. I go out of my way to not buy China made products. Don't tell me EVERYTHING is from China. It's not. Only cheap crap. Like Walmart.
ReplyDeleteRetailers means Walmart. Tough!
ReplyDeleteSo hold on. Let me see if I got this right.
ReplyDeleteRetailers are not forwarding the cost of higher tariffs to the consumer?
But, higher wages for workers WILL?
We aren't loosing jobs because of the higher cost of production due to tariffs on imported materials...
But, higher wages will force lay offs?
Somebody needs to get their economics stories straight... cause this doesn't make sense.