US consumers, business pay 90% of tariff costs, says Federal Reserve

Here’s something surprising — despite claims that foreign companies would carry the burden, the Federal Reserve’s latest research shows that Americans are footing nearly 90% of the cost of tariffs from last year. According to Myles McCormick and Claire Jones from the Financial Times, the study by the New York Fed highlights that most of these costs were passed directly to U.S. consumers and businesses in the first 11 months of 2025. Now, here’s where it gets interesting — while that big chunk was absorbed by Americans early on, exporters started bearing more of the load as the year went on. The study’s authors emphasize that the tariff burden largely stays on US firms and consumers, not on foreign companies. So what does this actually mean? Well, it’s a reminder that tariff policies often hit the wallet of everyday Americans harder than expected. And as Myles McCormick and Claire Jones point out, the long-term impacts could shape trade costs more than anyone anticipated.