Trump's washing machine tariffs are costing Americans almost $100 more per appliance

[RandySF]

A little more than a year after President Donald Trump slapped a 20 percent tariff on imported washing machines, new research finds that American shoppers have been the ones to pay the price.

A study conducted by two researchers at the University of Chicago and a Federal Reserve Board Governor found that washers cost an average of 12 percent more after the imposition of the tariffs, or roughly $86 to $92 more per appliance.

“It’s a good example of how the benefits of free trade are extremely diffuse but then the benefits of protectionism are concentrated,” said David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Collectively, Americans are paying more than $1.5 billion extra every year from this tariff alone. Another recent study by a trio of economists from Princeton and Columbia universities and the New York Fed found that the combined impact of all the Trump administration’s trade sanctions costs Americans $1.4 billion each month.

Although the tariff studied by the University of Chicago researchers was only on imported washing machines, the study found that the price increases were significantly more widespread. “Taking the effects on both goods together, the overall tariff elasticity of consumer prices is above 100 percent for the 2018 safeguard tariffs,” they wrote. “The costs of these 2018 tariffs are substantial.”


https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/trump-s-washing-machine-tariffs-are-costing-americans-almost-100-n999461?cid=public-rss_20190429

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Well of course.

Trump apparently thinks that tariffs are paid by the companies, or by the governments. In truth, the tariffs are passed on to the consumers.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. 1.4 Billion a month sounds about right

I don't think many people understand the full impact of the 301 Investigation lists (there are three). They get the "highlights" in news articles , but don't *get* the harmonized tariff schedule or how parts and components (screws, nails, rails, brackets, etc etc) are hurting their pockets yet.