New York Fed Report Links Trump Tariffs to Price Hikes

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released research showing that tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump increased prices for 67 categories of everyday goods by 2.9 percentage points as of February 2026. Researchers determined that without these levies, prices for the studied products would have declined by nearly 1%.

The study found that every 1 percentage point increase in tariffs results in a consumer goods price rise of approximately 0.25% after one year. A 10% tariff on all imports would therefore increase prices by about 2.6% within 12 months. While Donald Trump argued that companies would absorb these costs, the report found that roughly 26% of tariff increases were passed directly to consumers.

Two-thirds of the price impact came directly from the levies, while the remainder resulted from knock-on effects for U.S. companies using imported materials and parts. Although the Supreme Court of the United States struck down many of these tariffs in February, the White House intends to pursue alternative measures to maintain the levies.