NBER paper finds tariffs cost consumers more than the government takes in

Tariffs on foreign imports have been a consistent theme of President Donald Trump's terms in office; he even says tariff is "the most beautiful word in the dictionary." But despite his consistent claims to the contrary, tariffs are taxes borne by American consumers, as a new study confirms.

A working paper out this month from the National Board of Economic Research (NBER)—conducted by researchers from Duke University, the University of Chicago, and the Federal Reserve Board of Governors—seeks to understand what portion of tariffs American consumers actually bear through higher prices.

The authors note that after tariff increases in Trump's first term, "a wide range of studies" reached different conclusions on when and how tariffs "pass through" and increase the cost of an imported produc