U.S. importers pay tariffs to the government when covered goods enter the country. But that does not mean consumers always bear the entire cost: businesses may absorb some of it, pass some along in prices, or negotiate lower prices from overseas suppliers. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent acknowledged both points in an August 7, 2025, interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
What Bessent said in the August 2025 interview
During an August 7, 2025, Morning Joe interview, host Eugene Robinson asked Bessent who pays a tariff on a Brazilian product under the 50% rate Robinson raised in his question. That rate is historical context for the exchange, not a statement of the rate in force today. Mediaite’s report reproducing the exchange records Robinson asking whether the tariff is paid in the United States by the importer. Bessent replied that the Brazilian exporter could lower its price; Robinson noted that exporters could absorb part of the tariff, and Bessent responded, “Which is what we’ve seen.”
Robinson then asked whether the importer writes the check at the dock. Bessent answered, “Yeah, and then, you know, the importer can pass it on or not.” The exchange establishes who makes the payment to the government, while also recognizing that the tariff’s cost can be distributed in different ways.
Who pays the tariff, and who bears its cost?
“Who pays?” can refer to two different things. The importer is responsible for remitting the tariff at the U.S. border. The economic burden is the loss of purchasing power or income after businesses and customers respond to the added cost. It can fall on more than one party.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware match- The importer: Pays the tariff to the government. It may absorb the expense by accepting a lower profit margin.
- The customer: May pay more if a business raises prices to recover some or all of the expense.
- The foreign exporter: May reduce its price to keep its goods competitive, shifting some of the cost away from the importer and its customers.
The cited interview does not quantify how much of the cost each party bears in the Brazilian example. So “Americans pay” is defensible if it means a U.S. importer writes the check; it is too broad if it means American consumers always pay the full amount through higher prices.
How Bessent described possible price effects
In an April 7, 2025, Treasury transcript of an interview with Tucker Carlson, Bessent offered an illustrative scenario: “So in a 10% tariff, maybe the consumer pays 2%.” He described possible currency adjustment and foreign-producer absorption as reasons a consumer might face less than the full tariff in that example. It was Bessent’s model, not a general estimate for all tariffs or a finding about the Brazil exchange. The Treasury transcript also records Bessent attributing a 0.7% increase in the price level under the first China tariffs—tariffs he described as approximately 20%—to an unnamed “group at MIT.” The transcript passage does not identify the study or its authors, so that figure should be understood as Bessent’s summary, not a verified estimate presented here.
What the Walmart example shows—and what it does not
On May 18, 2025, Bessent said Walmart would absorb some tariff costs and pass some on to consumers, according to the Associated Press. AP also reported that Walmart CFO John David Rainey said retailers had limits on how much they could bear, and that Walmart executives said higher prices had begun appearing on shelves in late April and accelerated in May.
This example illustrates why tariff costs can be shared between a retailer and shoppers. It does not establish how much consumers pay across all products, businesses, or tariffs.
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What is known about the overall consumer share?
The cited interviews and reporting do not establish a current, comprehensive percentage of Trump-era tariff costs borne by U.S. consumers, importers, or foreign exporters. The August exchange describes possible cost-shifting but gives no shares for its Brazil example. Bessent’s 10%-tariff scenario is explicitly illustrative, and the Walmart example is not a universal measure. A precise overall consumer share cannot be derived from these figures alone.
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