Americans want to know how much President Donald Trump’s trade war is raising the prices.
The White House lambasted Amazon when it was reported that the online retailer might display the cost of tariffs next to individual products. (Amazon later denied the news report, but a firestorm had already begun.)
“This is a hostile and political act by Amazon,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response to the report.
According to the latest Economist/YouGov poll, a majority of Americans want that very type of price transparency. The poll found that 61% of US adults agree that businesses “should display how much of a purchase price goes toward paying tariffs.”
Broken down, 80% of Democrats, 61% of independents, and 42% of Republicans agreed that businesses should display tariff price transparency.
Leaders of major companies, including Walmart, Mattel, Conagra, and Best Buy, have said they could raise prices in response to Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs. Economists expect that cars, food, toys, and other goods will become more expensive.
At times, Trump and the White House have said that temporary price increases are part of the necessary pain needed for a trade policy that returns more manufacturing to the US. The president has said that children have too many toys and should be content with “two dolls instead of 30 dolls.”
Trump has said the US is nearing trade agreements with some countries. On Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent testified to Congress that talks haven’t even begun with China. The US is imposing a 145% tariff on Chinese goods. Beijing has said it would welcome discussions but is also prepared to stomach a lengthy trade war if necessary.
In the meantime, Trump’s approval rating has taken a significant hit. Polls also show that Americans have also soured on his handling of the economy.
The Economist-YouGov poll found Trump has a -10 percentage point net approval, which is higher than Nate Silver’s weighted average (-7.3) and RealClearPolitics’ average (-5.9).
If the political situation doesn’t improve, Republicans could face an onslaught in the 2026 midterm elections.
The Economist-YouGov poll surveyed 1850 respondents selected from YouGov’s opt-in panel from May 2nd through May 5. The respondents are US citizens 18 and older. Their responses were weighted by several factors, including gender, age, race, education, and 2024 election turnout and vote. The overall margin of error is plus/minus 3.4 percentage points. The entire methodology and topline responses are available here.
