WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, longstanding tariff exemptions on small packages officially expired, meaning nearly $65 billion worth of international shipments will lose their duty-free status and face new taxes at the border. This policy change will drive up costs for working Americans purchasing everything from electronics to clothes, while Trump’s broader tariff agenda continues to drive costs up across everyday necessities including electricity and groceries. And Americans are feeling it – consumer confidence has dropped for eight consecutive months as working families bear the brunt of Trump’s regressive economic policies that benefit the ultra-wealthy at the expense of working Americans.
In response, Defend America Action Senior Spokesperson Rodericka Applewhaite released the following statement:
“Trump’s tariff policies are a direct tax on working families who are already struggling to make ends meet under his failed agenda of tax giveaways for billionaires and health care cuts for the rest of us. As small package exemptions disappear and tariffs expand, Americans will pay more for basic necessities while billionaires like Trump reap the benefits. This is exactly the kind of backward economic agenda that puts profits over people and leaves working families behind. Trump’s chaotic approach to trade policy is driving up costs from the grocery store to electricity bills, and today’s latest attack on hardworking Americans will only make things worse for consumers and small businesses alike.”
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