"The triple toll of Trump's terrible tariffs"..."Ultimately, American workers and consumers suffer three different ways" [View all]

The triple toll of Trump’s terrible tariffs
Ultimately, American workers and consumers suffer three different ways.
Tom Schaller
May 25, 2026

https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-tariff-refunds

First, most Americans will never be reimbursed for what were effectively temporary sales taxes they paid for various imports, nor will they receive the public benefit of having those sums spent on government programs or projects.

Second, because it is logistically easier to reimburse the American companies that directly paid the tariffs, some corporations may enjoy windfall refund profits — presuming, that is, those companies did not go bankrupt.

Finally, the surviving businesses and the employees who still work for them — hundreds of thousands of workers were laid off because of the tariffs — will for the foreseeable future continue to suffer because foreign countries, companies, and citizens quite rationally retaliated against Trump’s policies.