WASHINGTON -- Sweeping taxes on imports have cost the average American household nearly $1,200 since Donald Trump returned to the White House this year, according to calculations by Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee.Using Treasury Department numbers on revenue from tariffs and Goldman Sachs estimates of who ends up paying for them, the Democrats' report Thursday found that American consumers' share of the bill came to nearly $159 billion — or $1,198 per household — from February through November."This report shows that (Trump's) tariffs have done nothing but drive prices even higher for families,” said Sen.Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the economic committee.
“At a time when both parties should be working together to lower costs, the president’s tax on American families is simply making things more expensive.”In his second term, Trump has reversed decades of U.S.policy that favored free trade.
He's imposed double-digit tariffs on almost every country on earth.According to Yale University's Budget Lab, the average U.S.
tariff has shot up from 2.4% at the beginning of the year to 16.8%, the highest since 1935.The president argues that the import taxes will protect U.S.industries from unfair foreign competition, bring factories to the United States and raise money for the Treasury.
“President Trump’s tariffs have actually secured trillions in investments to make and hire in America as well as historic trade deals that finally level the playing field for American workers and industries," said White House Spokesman Kush Desai."Democrats spent decades complaining about lopsided trade deals undermining the American working class, and now they’re complaining about the one president who has done something about it.” Popular ReadsTrump backtracks on releasing boat strike video, distances himself from controversyDec 9, 5:03 PMCharges upgraded to murder in hospital stabbing of San Francisco social workerDec 9, 9:23 PM...