CLAIM: Kamala Harris said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s proposal to impose a 10% tariff on imports would amount to a sales tax on Americans.
In her convention speech, Harris argued that President Trump’s tariffs would amount to a “national sales tax, a Trump tax.”
Verdict: False.
Customs duties are paid not by consumers but by merchants who import goods from foreign manufacturers.
Tariff critics frequently argue that importers pass on the costs of tariffs to consumers, but there is little evidence to support that view: When President Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods and on imported steel and aluminum, prices of consumer goods did not rise.
Typically, when large countries impose tariffs, exporters lower their prices to remain competitive and protect their market share. As a result, most of the cost of tariffs is borne by exporters, not consumers. If tariffs are not paid by exporters, they tend to be borne by importers, not consumers.
Tariffs are certainly not national sales taxes because they apply only to imported goods and represent a small percentage of the goods and services purchased by U.S. consumers.
