Trump rebukes Goldman's Solomon and bank's economics research on tariff impact

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday consumers are not paying the costs of tariffs, countering a recent Goldman Sachs' research division estimate that they had absorbed 22% of the costs through June.

"It has been shown that for the most part, consumers aren't even paying these tariffs, it is mostly companies and governments, many of them foreign picking up the tabs," Trump wrote in a post on social media platform Truth Social.

"But David Solomon and Goldman Sachs refuse to give credit where credit is due." Trump did not specifically mention which Goldman report he was referring to. The Wall Street investment bank declined to comment on the matter.


U.S. consumers had absorbed 22% of tariff costs through June and their share will rise to 67% if the recent tariffs follow the same pattern as the earliest ones, Goldman Sachs Economics Research said in a note published on August 10.

"This implies that U.S. businesses have absorbed more than half of the tariff costs so far but that their share will fall to less than 10%," analysts led by Jan Hatzius said.

Hatzius did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Since February 1, when Trump kicked off trade wars by slapping levies on imports from Mexico, Canada and China, at least 333 companies worldwide have reacted to the tariffs in some manner, as of August 12, according to a Reuters tracker.

Tariffs are taxes levied on imported goods to typically protect domestic industries or influence trade policies.

Its financial impact can be distributed among manufacturers, retailers and consumers, depending on market conditions and supply-chain dynamics.

Economists continue to study how much of the tariff cost is ultimately passed on to consumers through higher prices.

Meanwhile, Trump has also been vocal about his complaints concerning corporate policies and operations since he took office in January. He met Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan on Monday, days after seeking his resignation.