Foreign Producers Hold Firm on Pricing Despite US Tariffs
As of August 2025, major BLS data and recent trade research confirm that—contrary to some policymaker predictions—foreign producers in aggregate have not lowered their export prices to offset the new US tariffs. Instead, the burden of tariffs has been falling on US importers, who typically pay the original price plus the added tariff expense. BLS Import Price Index data shows only marginal declines or even slight increases in foreign producer pricing, especially when excluding volatile energy components. For most tariffed goods, import prices at the US border—inclusive of tariffs—have gone up, with the incidence of cost being almost entirely borne by American businesses and, in many cases, passed further to US consumers through higher retail prices.
