Washington — President Donald Trump’s top economist said Federal Reserve economists should face “discipline” for a recent paper that concluded American businesses and consumers are paying nearly all the new tariffs imposed by the White House last year.
Kevin Hassett, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, made the remarks in an interview on CNBC on Wednesday, calling the paper “an embarrassment” and adding that “The people associated with this paper should presumably be disciplined,” according to the Associated Press.
Hassett’s criticism comes amid a broader public dispute over the burden of tariff costs—particularly the administration’s assertion that overseas exporters bear most of the expense—and it also reflects a longstanding political sensitivity to findings that suggest higher prices are landing in the United States.
The latest White House attack targets the findings of a study published last week by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In that research, the Fed’s New York bank reported that U.S. businesses and consumers are paying nearly 90% of the tariffs that Trump imposed.
The New York Fed economists also said average tariffs on imports increased from 2.6% at the beginning of last year to 13% by the end of the year, according to the AP report. The research framework attributed much of the tariff burden to the costs landing with U.S. importers rather than foreign exporters.
The Fed’s New York research found that foreign exporters only slightly lowered their prices—by much less than tariff increases—leaving U.S. importers to bear the cost of the duties. The AP report notes that because U.S. importers pay the tariffs to the U.S. Treasury, the overseas-companies-bear-the-cost argument would require foreign exporters to absorb the tariffs by cutting their prices enough to offset the tariff increases.
The White House’s reaction appears to be part of a recurring pattern: the AP report says it is not the first time Trump officials have criticized economists whose conclusions pointed to American tariff payments or upcoming American costs. Last August, it reported, the administration responded to a projection by a Goldman Sachs economist by calling on David Solomon, the company’s CEO, to fire the economist.
Hassett’s comments on Wednesday also referenced the political context of price pressure. The AP report said the attack suggests the White House remains sensitive to concerns about rising costs for groceries, housing, and other big-ticket items such as furniture and cars, and it pointed to surveys indicating Americans remain disgruntled about the economy.
The broader debate on tariffs’ effects is not confined to one paper. The AP report said other studies—including work by economists at Harvard and the University of Chicago, a report by the Kiel Institute, and a report last week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office—reached similar conclusions on who pays the duties.
The AP report also acknowledged that overall inflation has not risen as much as many economists expected from the tariffs, in part because Trump has delayed, reduced, rolled back, or allowed exemptions to many of the duties. Even so, the report said the cost of many goods, including furniture, appliances, and tools, has risen in the past year after the duties were imposed.
The AP report cited examples from the auto industry as evidence of tariff costs. It said General Motors and Ford have said they have paid billions of dollars in tariff costs, including GM’s expectation last fall to pay $3.5 billion to $4.5 billion in tariffs in 2025, and Ford’s figure that it paid $800 million in tariffs in just the second quarter.
According to the AP report, the government has received nearly $100 billion in tariff revenue since October, more than it received in all of the 2024 budget year.