CNBC BusinessWhat is the true cost of tariffs?
It's debatable — not only because of political biases, but also because it's far from straightforward to calculate just how much of the levies consumers end up paying.
Even so, it's possible to estimate how much the price of common items could increase under President Donald Trump 's various tariff proposals. For products like clothing imported from China and Vietnam, U.S. shoppers could have to pay a lot more.
To illustrate, retail consultancy group AlixPartners created pricing models exclusively for CNBC, looking at the price of a men's sweater and men's shoes made in both China and Vietnam before and after Trump's April 2 "reciprocal" tariff announcement . The estimate assumes the retailer is maintaining its previous profitability levels, and u