the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Mar 2, 2026
Trump has told us repeatedly that tariffs are good for the economy. According to Trump, imposing tariffs balances trade deficits by making foreign companies pay. He also claims tariffs will bring back manufacturing jobs.
So, who really benefits from tariffs, and who really pays for tariffs?
U.S. consumers are sucking up 43% of the tariff burden, according to Harvard economists. U.S. companies absorb most of the rest. Meaning that foreign companies are basically not paying for the tariffs, because they pass on the full cost of the tariffs to their U.S. consumers, or they ship smaller quantities of goods.
It is also important to understand that while tariffs do raise prices on goods, they don’t raise the prices of all goods. There are products that have been exempted from tariffs, like coffee, bananas, and Apple’s iPhones.
As for manufacturing jobs, over 70,000 jobs were lost in 2025. And this loss of manufacturing jobs is happening while production is increasing. For example, Trump pointed to the U.S. producing more steel than Japan. But employment in steel has not increased. Fewer workers are producing more. Speed-up is stealing jobs.
On February 20, the Supreme Court ruled that most of the tariffs Trump imposed since February 2025 were unconstitutional. Which opens the door to refunds. Already many companies such as FedEx have sued for refunds. As for workers, we will not see any refunds. The corporations pass on the tariffs to us. But they will not pass on to us any refunds they manage to get. Their greed knows no bounds.