Tariff costs to companies this year to hit $1.2 trillion, with consumers taking most of the hit, S&P says [View all]

Source: CNBC

ECONOMY
Tariff costs to companies this year to hit $1.2 trillion, with consumers taking most of the hit, S&P says

PUBLISHED THU, OCT 16 2025 1:51 PM EDT * UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO

Jeff Cox
@JEFF.COX.7528

KEY POINTS
* President Donald Trump’s tariffs will cost global businesses upward of $1.2 trillion in 2025, with most of the cost being passed onto consumers, according to a new analysis from S&P Global.
* The firm says that just one-third will be borne by companies, with the rest falling on the shoulders of consumers, under conservative estimates.
* “While Americans may face a transition period from tariffs upending a broken status quo that has put America Last, the cost of tariffs will ultimately be borne by foreign exporters,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.

President Donald Trump’s tariffs will cost global businesses upward of $1.2 trillion in 2025, with most of the cost being passed onto consumers, according to a new analysis from S&P Global.

In a white paper released Thursday, the firm said its estimate of additional expenses for companies is probably conservative. The price tag comes from information provided by some 15,000 sell-side analysts across 9,000 companies who contribute to S&P and its proprietary research indexes.

“The sources of this trillion-dollar squeeze are broad. Tariffs and trade barriers act as taxes on supply chains and divert cash to governments; logistics delays and freight costs compound the effect,” author Daniel Sandberg said in the report. “Collectively, these forces represent a systemic transfer of wealth from corporate profits to workers, suppliers, governments, and infrastructure investors.”

Trump in April slapped 10% tariffs on all goods entering the U.S. and listed individual “reciprocal” tariffs for dozens of other countries. Since then, the White House has entered a series of negotiations and agreements while also adding duties on a variety of individual items such as kitchen cabinets, autos and timber.

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Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/16/tariff-costs-to-companies-this-year-to-hit-1point2-trillion-with-consumers-taking-most-of-the-hit-sp-says.html