Jennifer Balkcom: House Republicans Voted Multiple Times To Keep Tariffs In Place That Raised Prices On Essential Goods For North Carolina Families

2025-2026: House Republicans Voted Multiple Times To Keep Tariffs In Place

March 2025: New York Times: “House Republican Leaders On Tuesday Quietly Moved To Shield Their Members From Having To Vote On Whether To End President Trump’s Tariffs.” “House Republican leaders on Tuesday quietly moved to shield their members from having to vote on whether to end President Trump’s tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, tucking language into a procedural measure that effectively removed their chamber’s ability to undo the levies.” [New York Times, 3/11/25]

• Reuters: The Procedural Vote Blocked “The Ability Of Congress To Quickly Challenge Tariffs Imposed By President Trump That Have Rattled Financial Markets.” “The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to block the ability of Congress to quickly challenge tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump that have rattled financial markets. […] The provision was tucked into a procedural vote related to the Republicans' six-month stopgap funding bill.” [Reuters, 3/11/25]

April 2025: House Republicans Pushed A Procedural Rule That Would Curb Congress’s Power To Override Trump’s Tariffs. “Republicans are quietly pushing a procedural rule that would curb the power of the US Congress to override Donald Trump’s chaotic tariff policy. The House of Representatives’ rules committee on Wednesday approved a measure that would forbid the House from voting on legislation to overturn the president’s recently imposed taxes on foreign imports.” [The Guardian, 4/9/25]

September 2025: House Republicans Extended A Maneuver That Stripped Congress Of The Power To Disapprove Of The President’s Tariffs. “House Republicans extended a maneuver they engineered earlier in the year that effectively strips Congress of the power to disapprove of President Trump’s tariffs. The Republican-led House moved anew on Tuesday to relinquish Congress’s power to weigh in on President Trump’s tariffs, even as Democrats in the Senate prepared to force votes challenging his trade war. The maneuver by House Republicans effectively stripped lawmakers of the ability to force action on lifting the tariffs until March 31, 2026, extending a prohibition they initially imposed in the spring to spare their members a politically tough vote.” [New York Times, 9/16/25]

North Carolina Consumers Faced Tariff-Driven Inflation

July 2025: North Carolinians Experienced Rising Inflation Due To Tariffs. “Rising inflation is starting to show up on North Carolina grocery receipts and in the state’s factories, economists and executives say. Inflation rose last month to its highest level since February as President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs push up the cost of everything from groceries and clothes to furniture and appliances.” [WRAL News, 7/15/25]

WRAL News Headline: “‘New Economic Reality’: NC Consumers Face Tariff-Driven Inflation.” [WRAL News, 7/15/25]

2026: Tariffs Were Estimated To Cost Americans More Than $2,500 A Year, With Consumers Shouldering More Of The Burden Than Businesses

Joint Economic Committee Minority: “American Families Will Pay More Than $2,500 Each In Tariff Costs In 2026.” “Even though the Supreme Court ruled that the bulk of President Trump’s tariff agenda was illegal, the administration moved immediately to enact new tariffs that Treasury Secretary Bessent claims will result in ‘virtually unchanged tariff revenue in 2026’. If Bessent’s estimates hold true, the Joint Economic Committee – Minority estimates that American families will pay more than $2,500 each in tariff costs in 2026. Building on its previous tariff cost estimates, the Committee combined official data from the U.S. Treasury Department on the amount of tariff revenue collected since the start of 2025 with independent estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office of the percent of each tariff dollar that is ultimately paid by American consumers. The Committee found that if tariff revenue stays at the level recorded in January 2026 for the rest of the year, American families would in total pay more than $330 billion in tariff costs in 2026, an average of more than $2,500 per household in tariff costs this year. This is substantially higher than the more than $1,700 in average tariff costs that the JEC – Minority previously estimated that families paid during the first year of Trump’s second term.” [Joint Economic Committee Minority, Fact Sheet, March 2026]

Joint Economic Committee Minority: With The Trump Administration’s Projected Tariff Policy, “American Families Would In Total Pay More Than $300 Billion In Tariff Costs In 2026.” “Even though the Supreme Court ruled that the bulk of President Trump’s tariff agenda was illegal, the administration moved immediately to enact new tariffs that Treasury Secretary Bessent claims will result in ‘virtually unchanged tariff revenue in 2026’. If Bessent’s estimates hold true, the Joint Economic Committee – Minority estimates that American families will pay more than $2,500 each in tariff costs in 2026. Building on its previous tariff cost estimates, the Committee combined official data from the U.S. Treasury Department on the amount of tariff revenue collected since the start of 2025 with independent estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office of the percent of each tariff dollar that is ultimately paid by American consumers. The Committee found that if tariff revenue stays at the level recorded in January 2026 for the rest of the year, American families would in total pay more than $330 billion in tariff costs in 2026, an average of more than $2,500 per household in tariff costs this year. This is substantially higher than the more than $1,700 in average tariff costs that the JEC – Minority previously estimated that families paid during the first year of Trump’s second term.” [Joint Economic Committee Minority, Fact Sheet, March 2026]

Tariffs Raised Prices On Essential Goods Like Medicine And Groceries

Tariffs Would Raise Drug Prices For Americans

NBC News: Analysts Warned Tariffs On Drug Product Imports Could Raise Prices For Americans. “Analysts are already warning that U.S. consumers could see higher prices due to new tariffs President Donald Trump plans to impose on drug product imports as soon as next week. But a series of exemptions may blunt the ultimate impact. In a Truth Social post late Thursday, Trump said that any branded or patented pharmaceutical products brought into the U.S. would face a 100% tariff starting Oct. 1.” [NBC News, 9/26/25]

• Trump’s 100% Tariff On Branded Pharmaceuticals Would Apply Only To Companies That Weren’t Constructing Manufacturing Facilities In The U.S. “US President Donald Trump announced a wave of new tariffs, chief among them a 100% tariff on branded pharmaceuticals. The penalty would only apply to companies that aren’t planning or currently constructing manufacturing facilities in US territory.” [Bio Process International, 10/7/25]

New York Times Headline: “Trump’s Tariffs Would Spare Many Rich Drugmakers While Punishing Some Small Ones.” [New York Times, 9/26/25]

Tax Foundation Headline: “Trump Pharma Tariffs Would Raise Drug Prices For Americans.” [Tax Foundation, 8/14/25]

Tariffs Contributed To Rising Prices For Groceries

CNN: Tariffs Contributed To Prices Rising For Groceries. “President Donald Trump pledged to bring down grocery costs. But his administration’s policies are contributing to an acceleration in prices, food economists and companies say. Grocery prices last month rose at their fastest pace in three years, stoked by Trump’s tariffs, a crackdown on immigration, and extreme weather hurting food production. Prices jumped 0.6% in August from the month prior, according to the latest reading from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and they are up 2.7% from a year ago. Food prices are deeply personal to consumers, and weekly grocery bills shape their overall perceptions of the economy. More than half of Americans count grocery costs as a major stress in their lives. Low-income and middle-income Americans, hit the hardest by rising grocery costs, are changing where they shop and what they buy. Companies are also taking extreme measures to appeal to shoppers strained by higher prices, such as bringing back paper coupons.” [CNN, 9/20/25]

Axios Headline: “Grocery Inflation Highest Since 2022 As Trump Tariffs Pile Up.” [Axios, 9/11/25]

Yale Budget Lab: Tariffs Were Expected To Increase Consumer Prices By 1.3%, The Equivalent Of An Average Per Household Income Loss Of $1,800

Yale Budget Lab: Tariffs Were Expected To Increase Consumer Prices By 1.3% In The Short Run. “The 2025 tariffs imply an increase in consumer prices of 1.3% in the short-run, assuming no policy reaction from the Federal Reserve and full passthrough of tariffs to consumers. As a result, TBL assumes the real income adjustment comes primarily through prices rather than nominal incomes. If the Federal Reserve reacted, the adjustment could in part come in the form of lower nominal incomes. This is a pre-substitution number that captures consumer welfare effects. It is the equivalent of a short-run income loss of about $1,800 per household on average in 2025 dollars. The post-substitution price increase settles at 1.1%, a $1,500 short-run loss per household.” [Yale Budget Lab, State of U.S. Tariffs, 10/17/25]

Yale Budget Lab: Tariffs Cost Consumers The Equivalent Of An Average Per Household Income Loss Of $1,800 In The Short-Term. “Overall Price Level & Distributional Effects: The price level from all 2025 tariffs rises by 1.3% in the short-run, the equivalent of an average per household income loss of $1,800 in 2025$. This assumes the Federal Reserve does not react to tariffs and so the real income adjustment comes primarily through prices rather than nominal incomes; if the Federal Reserve reacted, the adjustment could in part come in the form of lower nominal incomes. Annual pre-substitution losses for households at the bottom of the income distribution are more than $1,000. The post-substitution price increase settles at 1.1%, a $1,500 loss per household.” [Yale Budget Lab, State of U.S. Tariffs, 10/17/25]

June 2025: The Congressional Budget Office Said U.S. Economic Output Would Decrease As A Result Of Tariffs

June 2025: The Congressional Budget Office Said U.S. Economic Output Would Decrease As A Result Of Tariffs On Foreign Goods. “U.S. economic output will fall as a result of President Donald Trump's new tariffs on foreign goods that were in place as of May 13, while also reducing federal budget deficits by $2.8 trillion over a decade, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday. In a letter to Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and two other high-ranking Democrats, the CBO said the tariffs, which have been challenged in court cases, will raise the costs of consumer and capital goods.” [Reuters, 6/4/25]

• Reuters Headline: “US Congress Budget Office Sees Economic Output Falling From Trump Tariffs.” [Reuters, 6/4/25]