A significant share of the U.S. population is blaming its growing credit card debt on President Donald Trump‘s trade policies.
In a recent survey by CardRates.com, 47 percent said tariffs had pushed them deeper into credit card debt, a figure that rose to 53 percent among millennials and 56 percent among Gen Zers.
Newsweek has contacted the White House and the Treasury and Commerce departments for comment.
Why It Matters
The survey alone does not establish any causal links between rising import taxes and Americans’ growing credit card debt, which is more than $1.2 trillion, according to the New York Fed—up almost 50 percent over the past five years. However, the findings underscore consumers’ growing concerns about the potential effects of tariffs on prices, the economy and their financial well-being.
President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media as he signs executive orders during press availability in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on September 5, 2025.
President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media as he signs executive orders during press availability in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on September 5, 2025.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
What To Know
The survey, conducted in July among 1,000 U.S. adults, found that nearly two-thirds of Democrats (64 percent) attributed rising debt to tariffs, compared with just over a third of Republicans (35 percent).
As noted, younger Americans were more likely to attribute their growing credit card debt to tariffs. By comparison, 42 percent of Gen X respondents shared this view, while 32 percent of boomers—generally those over the age of 60—said the same. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
“Younger Americans are currently facing a host of financial challenges, from housing crises and student loans to inflation,” CardRates.com analysts wrote in the report. “Adding tariff-driven debt only amplifies their financial woes, while older generations may feel the impact of these effects less, as they may have already reached a higher sense of financial stability and security.”
Bobbi Rebell, a certified financial planner and consumer finance expert at CardRates.com, told Newsweek that although there was not a “direct relationship” between tariffs and credit card debt, consumers may perceive trade policy as exerting upward pressure on prices, which places greater overall strain on their finances.
“The tariffs are paid by the entity that is importing the goods. In other words, consumers are not directly paying the tariffs,” she said. “But recent statements by large retailers explaining that they are raising their prices because of the tariffs that the retailers have to pay are telling consumers that they are paying higher prices because of the tariffs.”
A growing number of U.S. companies—including retailers such as Walmart, Home Depot and Dollar General—have either announced that they plan to raise prices or already implemented this change, pointing to Trump’s tariffs as the cause.
“If [consumers] have credit card debt, and they associate it with having prices that are forcing them to spend more on must-have goods than they can afford, and that in turn leads to credit card debt, they may be making that connection,” Rebell said.
“Trump’s tariffs are a highly salient event, and, therefore, are an easy target for consumers to blame for their increasing credit card debt,” said Benedict Guttman-Kenney, professor of finance at Rice University. “Americans see prices going up, as tariffs are a tax, but they also hear a lot about tariffs from the news and social media.”
“Credit card debt problems are about more than just tariffs,” he told Newsweek, noting that serious credit card delinquencies have been increasing sharply since the second quarter of 2023—”well before the tariffs were even proposed.”
The issue of tariff-induced price increases has been raised by policymakers in recent weeks. During his annual Jackson Hole speech last month, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said price impacts had already become “clearly visible” and that the central bank anticipated these mounting over the coming months.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Thursday that the Consumer Price Index had risen by 0.4 percent in August and that the annual inflation rate for all items had accelerated to 2.9 percent from 2.7 percent in July.
What People Are Saying
CardRates.com consumer finance expert Bobbi Rebell told Newsweek: “The best thing consumers can do for themselves is accept that there are things they can’t control [tariffs in this case] and focus on what they can control. From there, take the time to sit down and do the math on your household finances. Make deliberate and realistic choices and where you can increase your income, or cut down on your spending to free up more money to cover your debt. Go through your budget line by line and cut everything you can possibly cut. If you struggle with this, set a timeline.”
Benedict Guttman-Kenney, professor of finance at Rice University, told Newsweek: “What appears to be going on is an increasing partisanship in the perceptions of the economy. Confidence in the economy is highly polarized along political lines. In this survey, 64 percent of Democrats blame tariffs for their increasing credit card debt, compared to 35 percent of [Republicans]. It is unlikely that these groups have such widely different financial circumstances, and fits into a broader picture that consumers assign blame to the salient policies associated with the other party.”
What Happens Next
While Thursday’s inflation figures may heighten the Fed’s unease about lowering interest rates at next week’s meeting, experts believe a rate cut is almost inevitable given the weakening outlook for the labor market.
“The last bolt on the gate has fallen out and the rate cutting horse is about to leave the barn,” Chris Zaccarelli, the chief investment officer for Northlight Asset Management, told Newsweek following the BLS report. “It’s surprising to see how quickly the narrative has shifted from before last week’s jobs report from whether or not there will be a cut in September to how many cuts we will see after there is definitely a cut in September.”
Update 9/11/25, 12:05 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional comment from Benedict Guttman-Kenney.