Study: Americans’ tab for tariffs $7.1 billion in September, $1,000 per year for each household, 300,000 jobs

Tariffs are taking a financial toll on American consumers and businesses, and a coalition of 150 American business and agricultural trade associations says it has the numbers to prove it.

Data released by Tariffs Hurt the Heartland on Nov. 6 indicates U.S. consumers and businesses paid an additional $38 billion between February 2018, when the U.S. began imposing tariffs on imports of Chinese goods, and September 2019. The tariffs cover an estimated $550 billion of Chinese goods.

“This data offers concrete proof that tariffs are taxes paid by American businesses, farmers and consumers — not by China,” Jonathan Gold, a spokesperson for coalition member Americans for Free Trade, said in a statement.

The coalition said the most notable recent bump in the amount of tariffs paid by American consumers and businesses occurred in September 2019, when $112 billion worth of tariffs were applied at the start of the month to additional Chinese-made consumer goods imported into the U.S.

According to Tariffs Hurt the Heartland, Americans paid an additional $905 million during the first 30 days of the tariff hike taking effect, for a total of $7.1 billion in September 2019. That’s an increase of $600 million over the previous month, the coalition said.