“President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have forced American families to pay more than $1,700 each in tariff costs since last year.”

The claim made by Abigail Spanberger on February 24, 2026, references a specific analysis conducted by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) Minority. According to the JEC report, American consumers paid over $231 billion in tariff costs between February 2025 and January 2026, which averages to approximately $1,745 per family. Economists generally agree that the costs of tariffs are largely passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, functioning similarly to a consumption tax. While estimates of the exact financial burden of tariffs vary depending on the methodology, the time period analyzed, and the specific tariff policies included, the $1,700 figure cited by Spanberger aligns with the specific findings of the JEC Minority report for the period specified. Other independent analyses, such as those from the Yale Budget Lab, have also produced estimates in the $1,700 range for middle-income households, though they note that the burden varies significantly across the income distribution.