On Tuesday morning, all eyes on Wall Street seemed glued to the nearest screens in expectation that the Supreme Court would finally disgorge its opinion on the legality of President Trump’s tariffs. — Kiel Institute for the World EconomyAdvertisementBut verdicts on the tariffs are flowing in from elsewhere, and from the standpoint of American consumers, they’re ugly in the extreme. Contrary to Trump’s insistence that the tariffs are paid by foreign countries — more precisely by their exporters — Kiel’s study finds that the tariffs are almost entirely paid by American importers and their domestic customers. Enter email address Agree & ContinueAdvertisementIn 2025, Kiel wrote, the $200 billion that the U.S. treasury collected from Trump’s tariffs was tantamount to a $200-billion consumption tax on Americans. “These ‘deadweight’ losses are pure economic waste,” the Kiel researchers concluded — “costs borne by Americans with no offsetting benefits.”Voices Hiltzik: Confused about Trump’s tariff policy?

Source: Los Angeles Times January 21, 2026 17:01 UTC