We found out how much Trump's tariffs are expected to cost you this year

Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert

Thu, Apr 3, 2025, 8:27 PM 6 min read

• Donald Trump has enacted sweeping tariffs on items imported from the country's global trade partners.

• The tariffs will cause price increases on goods from pantry staples to apparel, experts told BI.

• On average, consumers should expect to pay about $3,800 more this year, a Yale economist said.

If you thought the cost of groceries was high before, economists and supply chain experts have some bad news.

President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced sweeping 10% tariffs on goods from any country imported into the United States, and even higher tariffs for 60 trading partners with a persistent trade deficit with the US.

The wide-reaching "Liberation Day" tariffs impact countries including China and Japan, as well as the European Union, and territories near Antarctica inhabited only by penguins. They come in addition to existing tariffs against the United States' top trade partners, Canada and Mexico.

For consumers, the increased import costs caused by Trump's aggressive tariff plan are expected to result in higher prices for everything from pantry staples like coffee and sugar to apparel and larger purchases like cars and appliances.

Ernie Tedeschi, the director of economics at the Budget Lab at Yale, said the price hikes are expected to increase the overall price level of goods in the United States by 2.3%, costing the average consumer household about $3,800 this year.

Tedeschi told Business Insider that the existing tariffs against Mexico and Canada alone account for an expected 1% price increase of about $1,700 per household. The "Liberation Day" tariffs announced Wednesday are expected to result in a further 1.3% hike, or $2,100 per household.

"So 1.3% may not sound like a lot to the normal person, but $2,100 is a meaningful amount," Tedeschi said. "Now, of course, that's an average, so if you open up the hood to that number, there's a distribution beneath that number."

The exact intention behind Trump's tariff plan remains unclear — the president says his main goal is to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States, but some analysts suspect he may be trying to trigger a recession to reduce interest rates purposely — and the stock market has tanked in response to the uncertainty.

Imports from some countries will be hit with higher tariffs than others, driving uneven price hikes across industries. For example, China — which largely imports machinery and appliances, furniture, toys, and electronics to the US — will be subject to a 54% tariff when combining the new tariffs (34%) with ones that have been previously announced. Goods from the European Union, which primarily imports medical and pharmaceutical products and motor vehicles, will be subject to a new 20% tariff.