The Trump tariffs scam in a nutshell

[Ms. Toad]

11. Yes and no.

Not all of the tariffs were passed on to the end consumer. Some importers absorbed some of the costs because they knew consumers would not (immediately at least) pay the full 250 in your example - so, rather than go out of business, they made an assessment as to how much consumers would be willing to pay - and how much they could absorb at least temporarily.

So in the example in the OP - they might have priced it at $225, so they still made their $100 profit, but not an additional profit based on doubling the price. Or they might have priced it at $213 (eating half of the tariff cost, cutting their profit to $88, rather than $100 - expecting to gradually raise prices so at least the full cost of the tariff was covered).

So it is a complex calculation to determine what share of the tariffs were paid by the consumer v. manufacturer, based on news reports and investigative reporting I've listened to since the tariffs were implemented.

But the bottom line point is correct - if all of the tariffs are returned to the importers, the importers who are still in business will make an additional profit because they would have been made at least partially whole by the customer, and more than whole by the refund of the tariffs. And - we can't depend on the importers to refund money to the end consumer.

It will be an interesting class lawsuit by consumers, assuming the importers get a tariff refund.