Tariffs have cost U.S. households $1,200 each since Trump returned to the White House, Democrats say

By PAUL WISEMAN Associated Press Economics Writer WASHINGTON AP Sweeping taxes on imports have cost the average American household nearly since Donald Trump returned to the White House this year according to calculations by Democrats on Congress Joint Economic Committee Related Articles Trump s handling of the commercial sector is at its lowest point in AP-NORC polling New York Times after Trump post says it won t be deterred from writing about his robustness Scores of administration statisticians are gone leaving content at exposure overview says What a Democrat s supremacy in the Miami mayoral voting process may mean for Trump FDA researching feasible adult deaths from COVID vaccines Using Treasury Department numbers on revenue from tariffs and Goldman Sachs estimates of who ends up paying for them the Democrats account Thursday determined that American consumers share of the bill came to nearly billion or per household from February through November This document shows that Trump s tariffs have done nothing but drive prices even higher for families mentioned Sen Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire the top Democrat on the economic committee At a time when both parties should be working together to lower costs the president s tax on American families is absolutely making things more expensive In his second term Trump has reversed decades of U S program that favored free transaction He s imposed double-digit tariffs on almost every country on earth According to Yale University s Budget Lab the average U S tariff has shot up from at the beginning of the year to the highest since The president argues that the import taxes will protect U S industries from unfair foreign competition bring factories to the United States and raise money for the Treasury President Trump s tariffs have literally secured trillions in investments to make and hire in America as well as historic business deals that completely level the playing field for American workers and industries explained White House Spokesman Kush Desai Democrats spent decades complaining about lopsided transaction deals undermining the American working class and now they re complaining about the one president who has done something about it A person shops for produce at a domain in San Francisco on Saturday Nov AP Photo Jeff Chiu The taxes are paid by importers who typically attempt to pass along the higher costs to their customers Democrats did well in elections last month in Virginia New Jersey and elsewhere largely because voters blame Trump and the Republicans for the high cost of living just as they d blamed Trump s predecessor Democrat Joe Biden for the same thing a year earlier Economist Kimberly Clausing of the UCLA School of Law and the Peterson Institute for International Economics last week explained a House subcommittee that Trump s tariffs amount to the largest tax increase on American consumers in a generation lowering standards of living for all Americans Clausing a Treasury Department tax official in the Biden administration has calculated that Trump s import taxes amount to an annual tax increase of about for an average household