Tariffs: JPMorgan Says You’ll Eat 60% of the Cost – Yale Economists Warn It’ll Be Worse

JPMorgan Admits the Obvious — You’re Picking Up the Tab

The suits at JPMorgan Chase are finally admitting what anyone with two brain cells and a grocery receipt already knows: when tariffs go up, you pay for it. President Trump’s latest round of tariffs against America’s so-called “trading partners” isn’t just a geopolitical chest-thump — it’s a silent tax hike dressed in patriotic colors.

Meera Pandit, a global markets strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, spelled it out on CNBC: about 60% of the cost of tariffs will hit consumers directly, while companies supposedly “absorb” the other 40%.

But “absorb” is a misleading word here. In corporate-speak, it doesn’t mean they take a loss out of goodwill — it means they temporarily delay passing the cost to you until they’ve worked the price hikes into their marketing and accounting. It’s not generosity. It’s timing.

Yale Says the Pain Will Only Get Worse

If you think that 60% figure sounds bad, the number-crunchers at Yale’s Budget Lab are here to ruin your day. Ernie Tedeschi, their director of economics, says historical data shows the consumer burden will keep climbing over time — likely hitting 80–90% once corporations get comfortable passing along every last penny of these trade penalties.

In other words, businesses will “share the pain” at first, but once they’ve tested the waters, they’ll dump the rest onto your plate and call it “market adjustment.” The longer the tariffs stay, the more the burden shifts toward households, until you’re paying nearly the full freight.

The Slow-Burn Con of Tariffs

Tariffs are sold to the public as punishment for foreign bad actors — as if these price hikes are a noble sacrifice for the greater good. In reality, they’re just another government-sanctioned wealth transfer. You pay more for the same goods, and that extra money flows into a closed loop of government coffers and corporate profits.

It’s a perfect scam:

• Invisible tax: You don’t get a bill in the mail, but you feel it every time you shop.
• No political blowback: Politicians can claim they didn’t “raise taxes.”
• Corporate win: Companies eventually pass the costs along, keeping their margins intact.

By the time you realize what’s happening, prices have “normalized” at the higher rate, and there’s no going back.

This Isn’t the First Time

We’ve seen this before. The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 jacked up import taxes in the name of protecting American jobs — and instead helped crash global trade and deepen the Great Depression. Modern tariffs may be less dramatic, but the mechanics are the same: the political class takes credit for “toughness,” corporations adjust their price tags upward, and ordinary people get skinned alive financially.

History doesn’t just rhyme here — it’s practically singing the same chorus.

The Real Danger: Normalization of Financial Squeeze

The real danger isn’t the first wave of price hikes — it’s the gradual conditioning of the public to accept higher costs as the new normal. When government, media, and big banks are all telling you “it’s just the market adjusting,” they’re not informing you. They’re lulling you into compliance.

First it’s tariffs. Next it’s “carbon fees.” Then it’s digital transaction taxes slipped into the fine print. And if you think they won’t use tools like FedNow to monitor and control every penny you spend in the name of “efficiency,” you haven’t been paying attention.

Conclusion — Don’t Be the Frog in the Pot

The math doesn’t lie. The question is whether you’re willing to keep swallowing it without a fight. Tariffs may be dressed up in nationalistic rhetoric, but they’re just another way to bleed you dry without calling it a tax hike.

Download “Seven Steps to Protect Yourself from Bank Failure” by Bill Brocius before they find another way to skim your savings. Click here to get it now.