Those $2,000 Tariff Checks Are a Shell Game: Patricia Lopez

President Donald Trump has been touting tariff rebate checks for middle-class Americans, a move he hopes will convince voters that he cares about affordability. The $2,000 payments would go to “all but the rich,” he says — a clear attempt to neutralize an issue that has become an albatross. According to a YouGov/Economist poll released Tuesday, 7 in 10 voters blame Trump’s trade policies for higher prices.

But the rebate checks are a budgetary shell game. Tariffs have already cost American families nearly that much — an average of $1,800, according to The Budget Lab at Yale. Because, of course, tariff ...