“Data shows that the burden...of the tariffs has fallen overwhelmingly on foreign producers and middlemen.”

Tariffs are paid by U.S. importers at the border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection bills the American company bringing in the goods, not any foreign government. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York found in February 2026 that nearly 90% of the economic burden of the 2025 tariffs fell on U.S. firms and consumers, as the average tariff rate on U.S. imports jumped from 2.6% to 13% over the year.

Every major analysis agrees. The Congressional Budget Office estimated foreign exporters absorb only about 5% of tariff costs: roughly 95% is borne domestically through squeezed business margins and higher consumer prices. Independent research analyzing $4 trillion in shipments found foreign exporters absorbed just 4% of the burden. Trump fact-checked himself. In November 2025, he announced he would lower Americans' coffee prices by lowering his own tariffs on imported coffee, an admission that only makes sense if Americans, not foreign countries, were paying the tariffs all along. CNN's year-end review ranked the 'foreign countries pay' claim among what it called his biggest lies of 2025. "Nearly 90 percent of the tariffs' economic burden [is] falling on U.S. firms and consumers." — Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Liberty Street Economics, February 12, 2026