If foreigners were “eating” the tariffs you’d expect to see import prices drop. They’re not dropping

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The receipts killed the fantasy. Import prices jumped instead of falling, which means tariffs landed on Americans, not on exporters.

CBS News confirmed the inflationary spike:

“The Consumer Price Index in August rose at a rate of 2.9% from a year ago, accelerating from the previous month as President Trump’s tariffs filtered through the economy. Heavily imported goods saw some of the steepest price hikes last month. According to the Federal Reserve’s latest Beige Book survey, tariff-related price hikes were visible across the U.S. in August. Beth Hammack, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, told CBS News that some companies facing a hit to their profit margins have no choice but to start passing on tariff-related costs to consumers.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-tariffs-consumer-price-hikes-inflation-coffee-autos-apparel-cpi/

The Peterson Institute’s tracker shows exactly who pays:

“Tariffs are taxes collected by the U.S. government from U.S. businesses when they import goods. For example, in January 2025, imports from China amounted to $43 billion, and the $4.5 billion tariff revenue is roughly 10.5 percent of the import value. These costs are paid by U.S. importers—not foreign exporters.” https://www.piie.com/research/piie-charts/2025/trumps-tariff-revenue-tracker-how-much-us-collecting-which-imports-are