New study finds Americans bear nearly all tariff costs as exports contract

A Kiel Institute study analyzing more than 25 million shipment records worth nearly $4 trillion found exporters absorbed only about 4% of tariff costs, with American importers passing roughly 96% of the burden to U.S. consumers as export volumes collapse and shipments shift to other markets. Tariffs have raised about $200 billion in revenue, but mostly paid by Americans, acting as a consumption tax, while manufacturing jobs have not rebounded and legal questions about the tariffs’ use linger.