The invalidated tariffs cost American households $1,000 each last year and $900 each this year, the nonprofit Tax Foundation reckoned. The Trump administration still seems to resent having to refund tariffs. “When the Democrats scream, ‘Oh, the refunds should go back to the American people,’ well, the American people had it,” Bessent said, scowling. The $168 billion Bessent cited as the government’s tariff take was a tax on consumers, as pretty much every qualified economist knows. Refunds or not, Trump’s tariff policies will be a continuing weight on the economy, and for most Americans, that weight won’t be lifted anytime soon.