How The Tariffs Impact Your Wallet

On Friday, President Trump announced tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports, a move he says will help push China to a freer, fairer trade relationship but which a leading taxpayer advocate says will make life more expensive for all Americans.The trade partnership estimates that tariffs implemented in 2018 costs families an average of $767 per year. Another estimate suggests an additional $500 per year in costs from the new tariffs."I think it's pretty safe to say that a household could face several hundred dollars if not a thousand dollars worth of increased prices for goods or services over a year, depending on what they buy," said National Taxpayers Union President Pete Sepp.Sepp also points to research from the Tax Foundation suggesting that if the U.S. implemented all of the tariffs Trump has threatened to impose, the U.S. economy would lose a quarter of one percent in gross domestic product and lose half of the long-term impact of the 2017 tax cuts."Unfortunately, U.S. taxpayers are the ones who are immediately feeling the pain here. If the president successfully negotiates a better deal with China, in the long run we may all be better off, but right now it's almost unquestionable that citizens here in the United States are the ones feeling the most economic pain," said Sepp.Listen to the full podcast to hear Sepp explain what other approaches could protect taxpayers while forging a more balanced trade deal with China.