Those $2,000 Tariff Checks Are a Shell Game

President Donald Trump has been touting tariff rebate checks for middle-class Americans, a move he hopes will convince voters that he cares about affordability. The $2,000 payments would go to “all but the rich,” he says — a clear attempt to neutralize an issue that has become an albatross. According to a YouGov/Economist poll released Tuesday, 7 in 10 voters blame Trump’s trade policies for higher prices.

But the rebate checks are a budgetary shell game. Tariffs have already cost American families nearly that much — an average of $1,800, according to The Budget Lab at Yale. Because, of course, tariff costs are mostly paid by consumers and American importers. And the consumer burden is rising as companies stop absorbing the cost. It is simply not free money paid by foreign countries.