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Sweeping taxes on imports have cost the average American household nearly $1,200 since Donald Trump returned to the White House this year, according to calculations by Democrats on Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.
Using Treasury Department numbers on revenue from tariffs and Goldman Sachs estimates of who ends up paying for them, the Democrats’ report Thursday found that American consumers’ share of the bill came to nearly $159 billion — or $1,198 per household — from February through November.
“This report shows that (Trump’s) tariffs have done nothing but drive prices even higher for families,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the economic committee. “At a time when both parties should be working together to lower costs, the president’s tax on American families is simply making things more expensive.”
In his second term, Trump has reversed decades of U.S. policy that favored free trade. He’s imposed double-digit tariffs on almost every country on earth. According to Yale University’s Budget Lab, the average U.S. tariff has shot up from 2.4% at the beginning of the year to 16.8%, the highest since 1935.
The president argues that the import taxes will protect U.S. industries from unfair foreign competition, bring factories to the United States and raise money for the Treasury.
“President Trump’s tariffs have actually secured trillions in investments to make and hire in America as well as historic trade deals that finally level the playing field for American workers and industries,” said White House Spokesman Kush Desai. “Democrats spent decades complaining about lopsided trade deals undermining the American working class, and now they’re complaining about the one president who has done something about it.”
The taxes are paid by importers who typically attempt to pass along the higher costs to their customers.
Democrats did well in elections last month in Virginia, New Jersey and elsewhere largely because voters blame Trump and the Republicans for the high cost of living, just as they’d blamed Trump’s predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden, for the same thing a year earlier.
Economist Kimberly Clausing of the UCLA School of Law and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, last week told a House subcommittee that Trump’s tariffs amount to “the largest tax increase on American consumers in a generation, lowering standards of living for all Americans.’' Clausing, a Treasury Department tax official in the Biden administration, has calculated that Trump’s import taxes ”amount to an annual tax increase of about $1,700 for an average household.’'
Jobless Claims Jump but Continuing Claims Fall
The latest unemployment insurance data delivered a surprising split less than a day after the Federal Reserve pointed to cooling labor conditions as part of its rationale for cutting rates. Initial jobless claims rose sharply to 236 thousand, higher than the 220 thousand forecast and up from 192 thousand last week. At the same time, continuing claims fell to 1.838 million, well below expectations and marking one of the largest weekly declines this year.
In simple terms, more people are entering unemployment, yet fewer are staying on it. That divergence is the most important signal in today’s release.
Initial claims reflect the pace of new layoffs, and an increase of this size suggests that some employers are beginning to trim staff as demand moderates. Continuing claims track how many people remain on unemployment benefits after their first week, and the sharp drop indicates that workers who were already unemployed found jobs more quickly than expected. Rising layoffs paired with faster reemployment is both unusual and revealing. It shows a labor market easing at the edges while still functioning efficiently at its core.
This dynamic matters because it directly aligns with the soft-landing scenario the Fed is trying to engineer. Policymakers want hiring to slow enough to reduce wage pressure without tipping the economy into sustained unemployment. A rise in initial claims supports the argument that labor demand is cooling. A decline in continuing claims reinforces that workers are not getting stuck without jobs. Together, they depict a labor market that is loosening but not unraveling.
For households, this combination creates a complicated psychological environment. Rising new claims raise the perceived risk of job loss, which keeps sentiment subdued even when overall employment remains strong. Yet the drop in continuing claims sends the opposite signal. It suggests that if a job is lost, the chances of finding another remain relatively high. Consumers process both ideas at once. They may feel more anxious about stability but more confident in their ability to recover quickly. That tension often results in what we see now: low sentiment but steady spending, cautious outlooks paired with continued engagement in the marketplace.
This matters for brands because consumer decisions become more selective under these conditions. People prioritize essentials, delay large commitments, and look for value in discretionary categories. They do not retreat, but they become more intentional. Understanding this mindset is crucial as the economy moves through a period where emotions and behaviors do not always align cleanly.
Disney is investing $1 billion in OpenAI and will bring characters such as Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and Luke Skywalker to the AI company’s Sora video generation tool, in a licensing deal that the two companies announced on Thursday.
At the same time, Disney went after Google, demanding the tech company stop exploiting its copyrighted characters to train its AI systems.
The OpenAI agreement makes the Walt Disney Co. the first major content licensing partner for Sora, which uses generative artificial intelligence to create short videos.
Under the three-year licensing deal, fans will be able to use Sora to generate and share videos based on more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters.
AI video generators like Sora have wowed with their ability to quickly create realistic clips based merely on text prompts. But a flood of such videos on social media, including clips depicting celebrities and deceased public figures, has raised worries about “AI slop” crowding out human-created work alongside concerns about misinformation, deepfakes and copyright.
Disney and OpenAI said they are committed to responsible use of AI that protects the safety of users and the rights of creators.
“This agreement shows how AI companies and creative leaders can work together responsibly to promote innovation that benefits society, respect the importance of creativity, and help works reach vast new audiences,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said.
Disney CEO Robert Iger said the deal will “extend the reach of our storytelling through generative AI, while respecting and protecting creators and their works.”
As part of the deal, some user-generated Sora videos will be made available on the Disney+ streaming service.
Disney will also become a “major customer” of OpenAI and use its technology to build new products, tools, and services. It will also roll out ChatGPT for employees.
Also Thursday, Disney sent Google a cease and desist letter, demanding that the tech company stop using Disney content without permission to feed and train its AI models, including its Veo video generator and Imagen and Nano Banana image generators.
It has previously issued similar cease and desist letters to Meta and Character.AI and has filed litigation with NBCUniversal and Warner Bros. Discovery against AI image generator Midjourney and AI company Minimax.
Disney accused Google of “infringing Disney’s copyrights on a massive scale,” according to a copy of the letter dated Dec. 10 seen by The Associated Press. The letter included examples that it says Google’s AI systems easily generated, such as characters from Star Wars, The Simpsons, Deadpool and The Lion King.
Google has also been “intentionally amplifying” the problem by making the infringing content available across its many channels including YouTube, Disney said.
Disney said Google hasn’t taken any measures to mitigate the problem even though it has been raising the concerns for months. “Google’s mass infringement of Disney’s copyrighted works must stop,” the letter said.
Google did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
US Talent Shortage: A National Security Concern
A new report from JPMorgan Chase highlights a severe talent shortage in the US, with 40% of adults lacking basic digital skills, bolstering the bank's recently announced $1.5 trillion US investment initiative.
🛑 Why It Matters
The report elevates the workforce deficit from a mere economic problem to a critical national security threat. The central argument is that large-scale funding for vital sectors like AI and energy will fail to deliver results without a qualified talent pipeline.
"Today's skills gap is a critical national security issue, and the public and private sectors need to come together to drive solutions forward," says Tim Berry of JPMorgan.
⚙️ The Core Problem
The U.S. can allocate massive funds, but "without sufficient talent, execution will fall short." This is a direct call-to-action for the public and private sectors to prioritize re-skilling and training, especially as AI continues to rapidly disrupt every industry.
🏛️ Government Efforts vs. The Need for Labor Focus
Both current and former administrations have pushed policies to address shortfalls in key industries:
Biden Administration: Championed industrial build-outs via the CHIPS Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
2 Trump Administration: Focused on traditional manufacturing and encouraging private domestic infrastructure investment.
Yes, but: The report insists that federal and local policies must more directly address the labor portion of the problem. Initiatives like paid apprenticeships, 'earn-and-learn' opportunities, and expanded Pell Grants for training are steps in this direction.
🔢 Shortages Across Critical Industries
Workforce gaps are evident in sectors essential for US security and resilience, which are the focus of JPMorgan's investment:
| Industry | Shortage Metric | Key Challenge |
| Defense | 46% of industrial leaders cite inability to recruit/retain skilled manufacturing workers. | Lack of skilled manufacturing labor. |
| Semiconductors | 3.8 million additional workers needed; nearly half of those jobs may go unfilled by 2033. | Fabs opening faster than technicians can be hired. |
| Energy | Near-term demand for roughly 200,000 workers. | Grid modernization and electrification projects are stalling without electricians and line workers. |
| AI | Workforce tech requirements estimated to grow at twice the rate of overall workforce requirements. | Need for highly skilled, scalable tech talent. |
The essential takeaway is that investments are meaningless without workers. The U.S. must prioritize building a scalable, capable workforce, or large-scale spending on materials and technology risks stalling before it can materialize.