Michigan households pay $5,619 in tariffs

Michigan households have paid about $5,619 of executive tariff costs, mostly on cars and trucks, since January 2025, according to a new report from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

The foundation estimated the per-household equivalent by using data from the international consulting firm Trade Partnership Worldwide and the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Michigan is among the top three states hit by tariffs since January 2025, according to the survey. The report showed sharp cost increases for cars and auto parts as well as steep price hikes for metals, machinery and parts. Michigand paid more than any other state on a per-household basis.

The nonpartisan group found that California has paid about $63 billion in executive tariffs since January 2025, while Texas paid $37 billion. Michigan was third, with payments of $23 billion.

About 64% of those tariffs raised prices of raw materials, parts, and equipment, the report said.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, in an August tweet, called the tariffs illegal.

I wish I could say I’m shocked, but this outcome has been clear from the start.
@MIAttyGen and I sued over the latest illegal tariffs imposed on Americans. When DC Republicans engage in reckless and vindictive trade policy with allies, Michiganders pay.https://t.co/t3QQTzIgqQ

— Governor Gretchen Whitmer (@GovWhitmer) August 28, 2026

Many of the tariffs were enacted or increased by President Trump, who said they would bring industrial jobs back to the United States from overseas. During a Sept. 9 speech at a Republican Party midterm convention in Dallas, Trump said that “tariff” was his fifth-favorite word.

.@VP: “What the President is talking about is fundamentally a dividend for American workers.” https://t.co/uHq3H5Vn78 pic.twitter.com/JzI79YhvsN

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 10, 2026

“America added 162,000 jobs in August,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai in a Sept. 4 White House blog post, “triple economists’ expectations. The private sector has now created over one million jobs under President Trump, whose reindustrialization agenda continues to drive manufacturing and factory construction job growth. America is in the middle of a historic investment boom, and the August jobs report is the latest data point showing how Americans are benefitting from the Trump administration’s pro-growth policies. The best is yet to come with even more job, wage, and economic growth in store for everyday Americans.”

The National Taxpayers Union report found that 36 states have paid more than $1 billion in executive tariffs since January 2025, as did Puerto Rico. Taxpayers in the District of Columbia paid the least overall, just $58 million, as well as the least per household, $159.