Trump Tariffs Result in Full Consumer Price Pass-Through

Consumers paid a dollar-for-dollar price increase for goods when retailers' acquisition costs rose due to 2025 tariffs. If a retailer's cost for a good rose by $1 because of a tariff, the consumer paid $1 more for that good seven months months later. This full pass-through to consumer prices is now effectively complete. These tariffs, implemented by President Donald Trump in 2025, raised core goods personal consumption expenditure (PCE) prices by 3.1% through February 2026. The Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric, the broader core PCE index, rose by 0.8% as a result.