President Trump's tariffs are almost "tailor-made" to hit the goods that lower income households prefer to purchase, says economist Ernie Tedeschi of Yale's nonpartisan Budget Lab.

That’s exactly what happened in 2019, when Trump first imposed tariffs on Chinese imports. The yuan depreciated enough to offset the tariffs, leaving dollar prices largely unchanged and U.S. sales steady. Chinese exporters took the hit, earning fewer dollars per sale.

With the Trump administration setting 15% as a floor for tariffs, companies and economists are warning of higher prices later this year.