Exporters Aren’t Eating the Tariffs, We Are

Cargo ship off-loading on the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair.

Donald Trump keeps saying that foreigners are paying his tariffs. He talks as though he thinks China, Japan, and other trading partners are sending the Treasury checks every month. (They go on the “tariff shelf.”) Who knows what Trump actually thinks, but insofar as there is a story of foreigners paying the tariffs it would take the form of lower import prices.

We have good data on this.