Have you noticed negative effects from the tariffs? I didn't think so!

Don Surber brings us this story from the Washington Post:

“Headlines last year proclaimed Trump’s tariffs could cost the typical American family $1,000 more a year. The eye-popping number came from a JPMorgan analysis that assumed the full cost of the tariffs would be passed on to consumers, which is what is generally taught in introductory economics classes.

“But that is not what’s been happening. The evidence so far indicates that most American firms passed only a fraction of the cost increase on to consumers — more in the range of $100 per family a year…

“But a recent study by economists at Harvard University, the University of Chicago and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston went a step further, examining data from two large retailers on prices of similar goods, some of which face tariffs and some that do not. The economists found a ‘quite modest’ price difference, suggesting that U.S. companies and retailers are eating a lot of the costs and making lower profits.

“The price hike for affected dishes, furniture, linens, toaster ovens, towels and umbrellas was less than 1 percent, the study found. And the price for electronics only went up by 1.4 percent.”

I said that all along. President Trump wrote the book on negotiating. (Well, dictated it to a scribe.) Tariffs give him an edge. By the way, all he gave Red China in this deal was a promise not raise tariffs. The tariffs are still on.