“[T]he tariffs, paid for by foreign countries ... Countries that were ripping us off for decades are now paying us hundreds of billions of dollars.”

State of the Union address and subsequent venues (continuing the false tariff framing)

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York settled this in February 2026: "nearly 90 percent of the tariffs' economic burden fell on U.S. firms and consumers." That is not a partisan estimate. It is the central bank's own analysis of a full year of Trump's second-term tariffs, and it directly contradicts the claim he repeated at the State of the Union. The mechanics make the claim impossible: tariffs are paid at US customs by US importers (American companies), not by foreign exporters. Those importers then pass much of the cost to American consumers through higher prices. As CNN's fact check of the address noted, every serious analysis of Trump's tariffs this term has found the overwhelming majority of costs covered by US businesses and US consumers.

A year of real-world data closed the case. CNN Business reported in February 2026: "A year in, it's official: Americans, not foreigners, are paying for Trump's tariffs." The Congressional Budget Office's February 2026 analysis likewise found the domestically borne share of tariff costs, roughly 95 percent, flowing into US consumer prices. Trump has made this same false claim since his first term, and it has been debunked every time. "We find that nearly 90 percent of the tariffs' economic burden fell on U.S. firms and consumers." — Federal Reserve Bank of New York analysis, February 2026