“There will be some cases where tariffs get passed on to American consumers, but that’s nowhere near the norm. Compare that to real consumer taxes, like the gasoline tax, which is 100% paid for by consumers,” Benoit said.

Made-in-China producers mostly absorbed the brunt of that tariff. Benoit gave the example of the Buick Envision, which has been imported from China since 2015. Media reports warned in 2018, that with the additional 25% tariff, the price would increase by $8,000. But in fact, the price of the Envision went down for the 2019 and 2020 model years, as GM’s joint venture partner, a Chinese state-owned enterprise, absorbed the cost.

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