This holiday season, Americans aren’t just paying for gifts — they’re paying Trump’s Christmas tax, a surcharge on nearly everything they buy thanks to his hamfisted tariff agenda.
Take one of the simplest Christmas morning traditions — a hot cup of coffee while the kids tear into presents. Even that small comfort has gotten pricier since Trump took office, with coffee costs up nearly 20% thanks in part to tariffs slapped on major suppliers like Brazil, Colombia, and Vietnam. While the administration has recently moved to exempt coffee — partially cleaning up their own mess — this comes after months and months of price increases that have already hit consumers.
And that’s just the start. From the moment families begin holiday shopping to the time they unwrap the gifts, this year’s Christmas celebration comes with a tariff surcharge. Most toys are manufactured overseas, and under the current tariff regime, their prices have jumped. According to one analysis, gift giving alone could cost American consumers roughly $28 billion more this holiday season. Other Christmas essentials have not been spared. For instance, artificial Christmas trees — which roughly 80% of American households typically rely on — could cost 10% to 15% more this year.
Tariffs have also had broader economic repercussions beyond the holiday aisle. One recent analysis estimates that the current tariff regime is responsible for roughly a quarter of this year’s inflation — with even steeper effects in import-heavy sectors — and has saddled the average household with about $2,300 in added costs.
These price pressures have, in turn, forced the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates higher than it otherwise would as it contends with the administration’s erratic trade policy, leaving Americans straining under elevated borrowing costs. Household credit-card balances have climbed past $1.2 trillion, up 6% from a year ago, and this Black Friday saw record use of “Buy Now, Pay Later” plans as families search for new ways to stretch their holiday budgets.
Americans are feeling these impacts in their daily lives. At a time when holiday merriment is the norm, consumer sentiment sits near record lows, with many families pointing directly to tariffs as the reason for their blue Christmases.
But President Trump has consistently dismissed their economic pain. Asked about price increases this past summer, the president said, “Maybe children will have two dolls instead of 30 dolls, you know, and maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.” Last week, he decided to double down, telling Americans, “you can give up certain products” and that “you don’t need 37 dolls for your daughter.” Recently, Trump has even taken to denying that prices are rising at all, calling affordability a Democratic “hoax.”
According to the president, this economic sacrifice is necessary to bring back American manufacturing. But his tariffs have not been particularly effective at reviving American industry as he claims. Instead, tariffs on inputs have merely driven up prices for manufacturers. To take just one example, American companies now face steel prices that are 30% higher than in Western Europe and double those in China. The trade war has also caused other countries to retaliate, hurting American exporters. China, for example, has banned imports of American beef, shutting our farmers out of one of the world’s largest import markets. These consequences are hurting American workers: the agriculture industry has lost nearly 50,000 jobs, while manufacturing has lost nearly 60,000 since the president enacted his most severe tariffs.
This might only be the beginning of his administration’s economic troubles. In the past few months, both inflation and unemployment have slowly increased, with the economy looking like it is teetering on the edge of a potential downturn. If the administration doesn’t reverse course, it might look even worse in 2026.
However, even Ebenezer Scrooge managed to wake up on Christmas morning with a change of heart. This holiday season, let’s hope the president can muster a similar transformation and spare Americans some cheer by rolling back his misguided tariff agenda. And if not, perhaps Santa can tuck an economics textbook into his stocking.
