Majority of Americans Aware of New Tariffs, but 40% Aren't Making Any Changes to Purchasing Behavior: Will This Trend Continue?

Tariffs have been the buzzword of 2025 so far, whether one works in the retail business or simply partakes of news headlines on a daily basis. Whatever one's position on President Donald Trump's tariff policy, the fact remains that the ongoing trade disputes (and/or negotiations) between the U.S. and other nations are having an impact on the American consumer.

Modern Retail and New-York based consumer research platform Attest teamed up to conduct a survey of approximately 1,000 consumers on May 28, on the eve of a U.S. Court of International Trade ruling that the president had "overstepped his authority" in issuing many of his tariffs. The results were interesting, to say the least.

Most Americans Up-to-Date on Trump Tariffs, but Nearly Half Have No Plans To Stop Buying

Over three-quarters (76%) of those polled indicated that there were either very familiar (40%) or somewhat familiar (36%) with the latest tariffs introduced by Trump — and of the total pool of respondents, more than half indicated that "tariffs are harmful because they raise prices for consumers."

The impact of said tariffs, however, doesn't appear to be slowing American consumer spend — at least significantly. About half of those polled said that tariffs on goods they purchase regularly might account for "a bit" of a price hike, and two-fifths (40%) indicated that they would be making no "notable" changes to their existing buying habits.

More than half of respondents were actually cheery about their personal financial portrait in the near future, with more than half of those surveyed suggesting that their checkbooks would improve by either "a little" or "a lot" over the course of the coming six months.

As the outlet underscored, however, this still left a majority of respondents who indicated that they would either be delaying anticipated purchases over higher prices or had previously purchased desired items to preempt the costs added by tariffs.

In Retail: Electronics, Clothing Purchases Most Likely To Be Affected by Tariffs

Closing out the data roundup, when it comes to consumer product categories most likely to be affected by tariff concerns, Americans seemed most likely to single out clothing and electronics spending.

That data jives with an earlier survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers carried out by the same entities, with 57% saying earlier this year that they had curtailed spending on clothing, while 45% said they had cut back on buying electronics.

"Right now, while consumers say they are worried about tariffs, they don’t appear to be sweating it that much — but that could change if prices increase further," Modern Retail concluded.