Here's how much tariffs are costing US families each month, according to Democrats

article

FILE-Consumers shop for products at an H Mart during their grand opening in Westminster, CA, on Thursday, August 7, 2025. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)

As the Trump administration continues its efforts to impose new tariffs, Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee released a report outlining how the new proposed tariffs will increase the financial burden on American households in 2026. 

This push for new tariffs comes as the Iran war is driving up gas prices and other goods as consumers grapple with the high cost of living. 

How much are tariffs costing American families monthly?

By the numbers:

In a study released Friday and obtained by the Associated Press, congressional Democrats explain that the Trump administration's import taxes will cost American households an average of $2,512 in 2026, up 44% from $1,745 in tariff costs in 2025. 

Citing a Congressional Budget Office report, the AP reported that Democrats believe that Americans will absorb 100% of the tariff cost, with the political party noting that importers can pass along about 70% of the tariff costs to consumers. Moreover, the tariffs also permit domestic producers to increase prices based on less competition from and higher requests for their tariff-free products. 

RELATED: Supreme Court rules Trump's tariffs violated federal law

President Donald Trump has already announced a 10% tariff, invoking Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, and could increase it to 15%. According to the Associated Press, taxes can only last 150 days unless Congress agrees to extend them. And the Section 122 tariffs are also being challenged in court.

In 2025, Trump invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to enforce double-digit tariffs on almost every country.

However, the Supreme Court ruled on Feb. 20, 2026 that the law did not give Trump the authority to enforce tariffs. The federal government now must provide refunds — expected to come to roughly $175 billion — to the importers who paid the IEEPA tariffs now proclaimed illegal.

What are tariffs?

The backstory:

Tariffs are taxes levied on imported goods. Although they are paid by organizations at the border, the costs are often passed along through higher prices, leaving consumers to endure most of the financial burden.

President Donald Trump has lauded tariffs as a key source of government revenue, and within months of his sweeping trade policies taking effect, billions of dollars had already flowed into federal coffers. 

In April 2025, Trump set what he called "reciprocal tariffs on most countries to address trade deficits that he called a national emergency. Those came after he imposed duties on Canada, China and Mexico, to address a drug trafficking emergency.

Who pays for tariffs?

Local perspective:

While tariffs are nominally a tax paid by the companies who import a product, many experts note that American consumers have historically shouldered the bulk of the tariff cost through higher prices.

"It is like a tax on the finished products," Chris Gaffney, the president of TIAA World Markets, told FOX Business during Trump’s first term. "It drives up the cost of production, and ultimately the price of the product."

Other experts, though, point out that global manufacturing and trade provides enough options for countries and companies to negotiate lower prices or find alternate sources of materials, reducing the impact of tariffs over time.