Americans are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump’s bid to overhaul the US economy with sweeping tariffs on foreign goods, according to an exclusive poll for the Guardian, despite the US president’s efforts to downplay the risks of his strategy.
“Have no fear, we will WIN everything!!!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday, claiming that tariffs were already “pouring money” into the country.
But fears are growing. When given a list of issues including inflation, healthcare and immigration, 72% of Americans said they are concerned about tariffs.
The survey was conducted by the Harris Poll in early March. When it conducted the same survey in mid-January, 61% of those polled said tariffs were a concern.
A lot has changed since then. Since returning to the White House, Trump has pushed for tariffs against many of the US’s key trading partners. He tacked on an extra 20% tariff on Chinese imports and hiked tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports.
The president has also threatened to go further next month, promising sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs on all imports from across the world and universal tariffs on all products imported from Canada and Mexico.
Amid widespread concerns, Trump and his cabinet have spent the last few weeks arguing that this strategy will bring jobs back to the US and ultimately lead to higher wages. The commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, conceded last week that a recession was possible, but suggested this would be “worth it”.
But so far, most Americans seem skeptical of this vision: 66% believe the US economy will take years to recover from Trump’s tariffs, according to the survey.
The country remains divided. As shown in recent polling, how a person views the economy under Trump depends on their political party. Republicans were less likely than Democrats and independents to be concerned about the economy and inflation, a potential recession and tariffs.
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90% of Democrats and 69% of independents said they are concerned about tariffs, compared to 57% of Republicans.
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89% of Democrats and 75% of independents said they are concerned about a potential recession in the US, compared to 65% of Republicans.
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85% of Democrats and 62% of independents said it will take years for the US economy to recover from the tariffs, compared with 52% of Republicans.
It’s a sudden flip from how Republicans and Democrats viewed the economy last year while Joe Biden was president. Last May, 70% of Republicans said the economy was worsening, compared with 26% who indicated the same last month. Comparatively, 69% of Democrats now say the economy is getting worse, compared with 36% who said the same in May.
This is also reflected in whether someone believes the tariffs against Canada and Mexico are justified. The vast majority of Republicans believe that the tariffs are justified – 79% for tariffs against Mexico, and 75% for tariffs against Canada – while just over 30% for Democrats and about 40% of independents believe the same.
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Americans across the board are still worried about the cost of living. Most Democrats (91%) and independents (88%), along with 82% of Republicans, said that they are concerned about the economy and inflation. Similar majorities said that they are concerned about being able to afford their living expenses.
The Trump administration has only doubled down on its strategy, and threatened more tariffs, in response to retaliatory tariffs against American exports.
When Ontario threatened tariffs on electricity exports to the US last week, Trump said he would double tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada to 50%. Only after Ontario said it would drop its tariffs did Trump concede. After the EU put a retaliatory tariff on $28bn worth of American exports, including a 50% tax on American bourbon exports, Trump said he would put a 200% tariff on European alcohol imports.
Trump’s insistence on tariffs comes in defiance of growing concerns that the policies could ultimately lead to a recession. The uncertainty has shaken Wall Street, which has had a turbulent last few weeks, despite recent better-than-expected data reports on the labor market and inflation that showed general stability in the economy.
Something that most people agree on, regardless of party: a majority (59%) believe that the tariffs won’t last long. That includes 61% of Republicans, 60% of Democrats and 55% of Republicans.
“Most Americans are of the sentiment that ‘this too shall pass’,” said John Gerzema, CEO of Harris Poll. “But there’s growing concern that tariffs could have a lasting and unknowable impact on the economy, regardless of whether they’re walked back soon or not.”
