U.S. consumers bearing more than half the cost of tariffs so far, Goldman Sachs says

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The findings suggest U.S. consumers will continue to struggle with high prices — something Trump had promised to address in the run-up to his re-election.

U.S. consumers are already shouldering as much as 55% of costs due to Trump’s unprecedented gambit to impose sizable tariffs on imports, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs analysts.

— NBC News (@nbcnews.com) 2025-10-13T15:32:05Z

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/us-consumers-bearing-half-cost-tariffs-far-goldman-sachs-says-rcna237283

Six months into President Donald Trump’s unprecedented gambit to impose sizable tariffs on imports, U.S. consumers are already shouldering as much as 55% of their costs, according to a new report from Goldman Sachs analysts.

And with new tariffs likely on the way, the cost burden could rise even higher, they said.

The findings, released Sunday, suggest U.S. consumers will continue to struggle with high prices — something Trump had promised to address in the run-up to his re-election. While inflation rates have come down from the post-Covid peak, they have remained stuck above levels economists consider healthy, causing consumers and businesses alike to continue to report feeling burdened by price increases.

Over the past six months, Trump has imposed tariffs on copper, steel, aluminum, and some automobiles and auto parts. He has also levied country-specific tariff rates of as much as 28% on China and 16% on much of the rest of the world, according to the Yale Budget Lab.

Partially as a result, consumer prices tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics have increased every month since April, when Trump made his “Liberation Day” speech announcing the new duties. As of August, the BLS’ benchmark Consumer Price Index (CPI) stood at 2.93%. September CPI data has been delayed due to the government shutdown, now in its 13th day, and is now slated to be released later this month.

[SheltieLover]

1. 55%? 100% here

[BlueWavePsych]

16. Agree!

[SheltieLover]

21. Yup. Put it on the backs of taxpayers, as always.

Grandson had ordered new hoses for his hvac gauge set for ~$100. Next day, order canceled. Now $125. Everything is this way!

[Klarkashton]

2. How about this 4% increase bullshit.

Bought any coffee lately?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Tariff taxes had NOTHING to do with coffee prices until a few weeks ago.

Prices for coffee spiked high because of widespread climate issues around the globe reducing harvests dramatically.

The 50% tariff tax on coffee (and other items) from Brazil, a big exporter, was imposed only a few weeks ago. Coffee prices long before rose a lot even here in Canada with NO tariff taxes.

[BlueWavePsych]

17. Coffee is cheaper in Canada.

Compare Walmart.ca vs Walmart.com ... the difference is tariff effect.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. Do you say that after accounting for the currency or just compare CAD $ USD $?

[BlueWavePsych]

20. Too lazy to calculate it yourself. nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

22. No. But I want to know if I should spend the time only to find a basic error has been made.

Because my off-the-cuff impression without research, based on coffee price reports here and elsewhere, is that US prices were cheaper up until a few weeks ago which is the last mention I read.

[IbogaProject]

11. The CPI measure got distorted awhile ago

The Federal government has a conflict of interest with CPI measurements as many Gov expenses and tax deductions are indexed to inflation. One hack they use is "substution" a consumer may shift to a lower quality of food stuff. Another one is the impute a pahantom costsavings on items like TVs since we get larger screens for lower price than before so they compound that "savings" by comparing the average screen size prior and reduce the current TV cost further down. The TV thing is crazy as those purchases are far less frequent than weekly food purchases.

[popsdenver]

14. HWBush

who was actually running the entire Reagan years did that because he wanted to "Doctor" the massive inflation during that time.
He also decided the "usury" rate on loans should not be limited to 12%, but should be set at 24%
ALL interest was deductible, car loans, credit card loans, personal loans etc. They changed it so that only mortgage interest was deductible....
ALL medical costs were deductible in addition to the standard deduction, they changed that.

The list is endless on the damage to the middle class during the Reagan Occupation of the White House. Reagan was just a front man, or pawn. It was HWBush's CABAL that were running things......

The current 2.9 to 4.0% inflation rate the Republicans are quoting is a total and ludicrous farce.........I would guess, esp on food which doesn't have tariff's, the increase in the past year and a half is probably 20-30% and then throw in the smaller packages for the higher price and it is probably much higher. The last year of the Biden administration, the manufacturers started hiking prices, (and therefore profits) out of sight to make it look like Biden was the cause of the inflation.

And other manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers are jumping in on raising prices when their goods aren't anything that has tariff's dropped on the price........

W A S F It isn't the Government per se doing this, it is the Corporations that are doing it, by buying all the politicians......

I wonder if someday soon, we will no longer be the 'United States of America" but the....."United Corporations of America"..... the simplest definition of FASCISM is the merging of Corporations and Government.......

[BlueWavePsych]

19. U.S. coffee drinkers and businesses will pay the price for Trump's Brazil tariffs

So much coffee in the U.S. comes from Brazil because of the country's large-scale production capacity, low costs, favorable climate and flavor profile, Yerxa and de Bolle say.

"Most of the industry relies on those coffees to be the backbone of their blends," Yerxa says, referring to the mixture of beans from different regions.

That is initially something that the importer would have to pay once it brings beans into the U.S., he says. "That tariff would just be another line item on the receipt that we're getting when we release that coffee. And then for us, we take that coffee price, and again it's added on to the price per pound of that coffee, when we come up with the pricing for wholesale and for retail."

https://www.npr.org/2025/07/21/nx-s1-5470131/us-coffee-prices-brazil-trump-tariffs

All these have come to past.

[FakeNoose]

28. I only buy coffee from Colombia, because that's my preference

But it won't matter where it's from. The tariffs are TAXES on US coffee drinkers, not on the exporters, no matter what Chump claims. WE are paying the tariffs(taxes) whenever we buy the products that come from another country.

Coffee cannot be grown in our climate, unless something changes very soon.

[Blues Heron]

3. I seem to remember from Econ 101 that tariffs tend to be split between buyer and seller depending on demand

The more elasticity, the more the tariffs will be split. If it’s a dire need, the seller can offload the whole tariff onto the buyer. I could be wrong though

[unblock]

4. That's about right from what I recall as well, though it gets more complicated

Because there are foreign sellers with different tariff rates and domestic competition with no tariffs. So in some cases it is a single market if no one cares where it comes from, all sellers will raise prices to some extent, including domestic sellers for whom the bump is pure profit.

Other markets may fracture, if people see certain imports as better. Elasticity of the product as a whole market may not be the same as the elasticity of the foreign product.

[ProfessorGAC]

6. That's The Theory, For Sure

In practice, it's harder to envision the supplier absorbing the costs as lost margins long term.
Practice suggest gradual increases in price to return margins to expected levels to keep equity owners happy.
It's a tactical move to limit blowback from angry consumers seeing 10, 15, 20% increases all at once.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

8. For US tariffs, the buyer/importer is the entity that pays the tariffs

The buyer may grant a discount to the buyer/importer but that does not sound like happens. Currently, many buyers/importers are eating the tariffs for now but will have to raise prices at some point

[paleotn]

26. In reality, no. You want your stuff out of customs?

Last edited Tue Oct 14, 2025, 09:00 PM - Edit history (1)

YOU pay the extra bill that's not part of the agreement with your supplier. Particularly with East Asian imports, the vendor gets paid as soon as it hits the water. They're out of the equation. The tariff bill is yours. And since many components can't be sourced in the US, certainly not at scale, there's no alternatives and suppliers know it. An discounts offered are foreign competitors competing with each other, and not directly tied to the tariff situation.

[cachukis]

5. Many outlets have made strong profits after Covid

price increases. They have absorbed tariff prices as well as possible to keep sales up. That can only last for a while.
Many companies stocked up before tariffs. That inventory has been depleted.
Other outlets spread tariff costs across non tariffed products to minimize impact.
Regardless, prices have increased and I suspect will continue to do so as corporations need to pay their workers and shareholders to survive.
At the end of the month, we are all paying more.

[Wounded Bear]

7. Yeah, producers and sellers can't carry all of the tariffs indefinitely...

Prices will continue to rise.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. 80 percent. I've read on DU or heard on CNBC highly credible reports that it is 80 percent. . . . nt

[cstanleytech]

12. That's why it's a tax meant to push more of the burden of paying for the tax cuts the wealthy were given by the GOP.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

13. Goldman Sachs exposes trump's huge lie that foreign countries are paying his tariffs and not US consumers .

It is US consumers who are paying tariffs.

Link to tweet

Goldman Sachs kicks Donald Trump hard in the teeth with a new report that exposes his huge lie that foreign countries are paying his tariffs — when reality it's American consumers......

According to the bombshell analysis, U.S. consumers are already paying 55% of the tariff costs just six months into their implementation. Trump and his minions have repeatedly claimed, despite pushback from economic experts, that other countries would simply "eat" the tariffs. We now see beyond a shadow of a doubt that that is not the case.

Since April when Trump first announced his harebrained tariffs, consumer prices have steadily increased every month, eating into the wages and savings of American workers via inflation. As if that weren't bad enough, some companies may have been using pre-tariff inventories to keep prices artificially low. As those stockpiles run out, they'll be forced to raise prices to offset the tariffs.

Goldman Sachs also predicted that costs will likely rise even higher now that Trump is considering another wave of disastrous tariffs. True to ignorant form, he refuses to look at the effects of his policies or to reconsider his prior economic assumptions. There is no scenario in which this man admits that he was wrong.

The analysis estimates that the Trump tariffs have added a whopping 0.44% to the Fed's preferred inflation measure, a staggering increase when considered in the total scope of the U.S. economy. Hard working Americans are getting hammered. If Trump follows through on threats to tariff furniture and kitchen products, that number could rise to 0.6%. If that happens, consumers will bear 70% of the tariffs' cost.

[Champp]

15. So the Republicans deliberately lied to America

As usual

[LetMyPeopleVote]

23. Goldman Sachs report says 88% of American companies and consumers are paying Trump's tariffs

Here are some more numbers

Link to tweet

[llmart]

24. Along this line...

has anybody seen how much the cost of candy is risen? I don't buy candy, but I was looking at the Halloween display of candies on my shopping trip today and did a double take on the price tags. It is truly out of sight.

[paleotn]

27. Much of that is due to climate change and crop disease impacting cocoa growers in west Africa.

Tariffs only exacerbate the problem. No chocolate for us.

[Wonder Why]

25. Can't be true. The Thing said Mexico was paying for it and, as proof, I got a 1 peso check

in the mail sometime ago.

My guess is, like the other unpleasant statistics, the CPI will not exist in the near future.