Sector-specific Tariffs: Estimating the Costs

By Jacob Jensen
American Action Forum
April 15, 2025
Category: Finance & Economics
Region: Canada, United States

President Trump continues to threaten immanent sector-specific tariffs. The threatened sectors include pharmaceuticals, copper, lumber, semiconductors, chemicals and minerals, and energy. …This research estimates that if the Administration places a 25% tariff on these six product categories, US firms will pay an additional $79.7 billion in taxes within the first year. …A lower tariff of 10% would result in $36.2 billion in costs. …Setting aside the financial costs, there will likely be downstream impacts to U.S. employment in sectors reliant on many of these product-categories for inputs. For example, lumber and wood are an input for homebuilders, furniture makers, and even sports equipment. …The Trump Administration started a Section 232 investigation on March 1 to investigate the entire lumber industry. …The fact the Trump Administration has already begun placing tariffs on Canadian lumber products indicates broader sector-level tariffs may begin soon. The new anti-dumping duty rate, combined with the new tariffs, will raise the cost of lumber.

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