Report: Trump’s Proposed Tariff Would Cost Families $1,500 Annually
Former President Donald Trump’s plan to impose a 10 percent tariff on all imports to the United States would hike prices and cost the average American household $1,500 annually.
That’s the sobering conclusion reached by a new economic analysis from the Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund, a left-leaning think tank and advocacy organization. The proposed tariff, which would be applied on top of existing tariffs according to Trump’s campaign, would translate into $1,500 in higher costs for the average American household. That includes “a $90 tax increase on food, a $90 tax increase on prescription drugs, and a $120 tax increase on oil and petroleum products,” according to Brendan Duke and Ryan Mulholland, the two economists who authored the report.
The 10 percent tariff is one of the few policy proposals that Trump has outlined in any detail as he campaigns for a return to the White House. Though he originally mentioned it in an offhand way during an interview with Fox News in August, Trump’s campaign website now promises more tariffs as a “linchpin of a new Strategic National Manufacturing Initiative that will rebalance the global trading system and dramatically strengthen America.”
Anyone who needs to buy groceries might discover a different reality. A 10 percent tariff, the CAP Action Fund report notes, would have a direct impact on food prices—which have already climbed significantly in recent years due to inflation—because 60 percent of the fresh fruit consumed by Americans is imported, as is 99 percent of all coffee and more than 70 percent of seafood.
Advocates for more tariffs frequently argue that imposing higher taxes on imported goods will help spur domestic production of those same goods. The evidence for that is pretty thin—but even if it were true, it wouldn’t make a difference for foods that can’t be grown or caught within the United States. (Sorry, but there’s just no way to grow bananas in East Atlanta).
Consumers would have to pay higher taxes to consume imp
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