The holiday shopping season is estimated to be significantly costlier this year than last year.

The National Retail Federation says the typical American consumer will spend about $890 this holiday season on gifts, food, decorations, etc. But that might not be the end of it.

There's a new study out from LendingTree that finds that because of President Trump's import taxes, tariffs will cause about a $40 billion increase in holiday costs. Retailers will absorb some of that, but nearly three-quarters of it, roughly $29 billion, will be shouldered by consumers. That translates to an extra $132 per shopper.

Rising prices, trade wars, coupled with questions about food support and health care - those are not very conducive to holiday merriment.

Normally, I would say that this situation highli

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