An economist at the Kansas City Federal Reserve concluded that President Trump’s tariff increases cost the U.S. job market around 19,000 jobs a month in 2025.
The Fed’s economist noted that in 2025 job growth was slower compared to 2024.
In 2024, 170,000 were created per month but in 2025 that number dropped to only 75,000 per month through August of 2025.
The analysis also shows that in 2025; almost all sectors saw lower job growth and companies that got directly hit by higher tariffs saw a larger drop in job creation.
“Overall, our findings suggest — at least thus far — domestic firms might have added fewer jobs in response to tariffs, similar to the employment effects of the 2018 tariffs,” said the KC Fed economist.
In 2018, The Trump economy hit 3% GDP growth rate but in 2019, that number dropped. Some economists attributed the decline in growth to higher tariffs put in place in 2018.
Columbia Sportswear, which has several stores here in Florida, imports a lot of its clothing material from overseas,
CEO Tim Boyle says consumers will see a 10-12% increase in 2026 from the higher tariffs.
Last year, Florida TaxWatch released a report which revealed how Floridians could see seeing an cost increase on their grocery bills by 10% to 15% under the tariff proposal by President Trump.
Other costs on Floridians include higher construction by developers who import products that would be passed on to the consumer
On a routine basis, Erica York, the Vice President of Federal Tax Policy at the Conservative Tax Foundation has highlighted where cost have increased on U.S. consumers from the higher tariffs.
York says the economic damage realized from tariffs will be less than initially predicted by economists because the tariffs ultimately imposed have been much smaller than the tariffs originally announced.
