Washington D.C., April 8, 2025 – Americans are divided on a set of foreign tariffs recently announced by President Donald Trump, according to a new Ipsos poll fielded shortly after Trump’s Liberation Day announcement. The poll finds that less than half of Americans support 25% tariffs on all cars and trucks made outside the U.S. or tariffs of at least 10% on all of the U.S.’ trading partners. The poll also finds that four in five Republicans say short-term economic pain is worth it to make the U.S. stronger in the long term, compared to half of independents and one in four Democrats.

Detailed findings:

1. Less than half of Americans support new tariffs on the U.S.’ trading partners.

• Four in five Americans (82%) say they are familiar with Trump’s recent announcement about tariffs. Democrats (51%) are much more likely to say they are “very familiar” than Republicans (36%).
• Two in five Americans support new tariffs, or taxes, on imported goods from Mexico (39%) and new tariffs of at least 10% on all of the United States’ trading partners (39%). Roughly one in three Americans support new tariffs, or taxes, on imported goods from Canada (35%) and new tariffs of 25% on all cars and trucks made outside the U.S. (35%).
• Republicans are significantly more likely to support these tariffs than Democrats and independents. At least seven in ten Republicans say they support these four tariffs, while around one in ten Democrats say the same.
• Republicans are less likely to correctly answer that the statement “Tariffs are taxes paid by the country exporting goods” is false (19% of Republicans answer this correctly, compared to 32% of Americans overall).
• Half of Americans say other countries have been taking advantage of the U.S. when it comes to international trade (52%). Republicans (85%) are more likely than independents (55%) and Democrats (25%) to feel this way.
• Three in four Americans say new tariffs should be targeted at countries taking advantage of the system, not at everyone (76%), including majorities of Republicans (82%), Democrats (76%), and independents (77%).
• Overall, roughly half of Americans say short-term economic pain is worth it to make the U.S. stronger in the long term (49%). This sentiment is significantly higher among Republicans (81%) compared to Democrats (23%) and independents (49%).

2. Most Americans say prices on a variety of goods will increase due to tariffs, while just one in five say they have seen grocery or gasoline costs go down in the last three months.

• Three in four say that over the next six months, prices will increase for personal electronics and phones (77%), automobiles (73%), and the items they buy everyday (73%). Majorities also say the same of household appliances (72%), fresh produce (70%), home repairs and improvements (62%), and dairy items such as milk and cheese (56%).
• Republicans are less likely than Democrats or independents to say prices of these goods will increase in the next six months.
• One in five Americans say they have seen grocery or gasoline costs go down in the last three months (21%); Republicans (38%) are more likely to feel this way than Democrats (8%).
• Two in five say they have had to delay making a purchase because they didn’t have the money (39%), 21% say they have been unable to pay a bill on time, and 16% say they had to go into debt or use retirement savings to make ends meet (16%) over the last three months. These levels are roughly in line with previous Ipsos polls conducted in late 2024 and early 2025.
• Americans also remain divided on the impact of inflation during former President Joe Biden’s administration. Republicans (54%) are more likely than Democrats (12%) to correctly answer that “Inflation was the highest it’s ever been during the Biden administration.”

3. Americans remain divided on Trump’s other executive orders.

• More than half of Americans (55%) say they support downsizing the federal government. However, only 39% support the effort to quickly reduce the size of the federal government workforce through deferred resignations and firings.
• One in three support proposals to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (35%); 71% of Republicans and 4% of Democrats support this.
• Roughly one in three support temporarily freezing federal funding for government grants and services in the U.S. (34%) and freezing the funding for the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and other public health agencies (30%).

About the Study

This Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted from April 4 to April 6, 2025, using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,027 adults age 18 or older. The sample includes 268 Republicans, 337 Democrats, and 321 independents.

The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult U.S. population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the U.S. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.

The data for the total sample were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region, metropolitan status, and household income. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2024 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The 2024 presidential vote choice benchmarks came from the federal elections 2024 election results for the U.S. President.

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45-59 and 60+)
• Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other, Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, 2+ Races, Non-Hispanic)
• Education (Less than High School, High School, Some College, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree or higher)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
• Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
• 2024 Presidential Election Vote (Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, Other, Did not vote)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.13. For Republicans, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 6.2 percentage points, and the design effect is 1.08. For Democrats, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 5.6 percentage points, and the design effect is 1.10. For independents, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 5.8 percentage points, and the design effect is 1.14.

The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent.

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Chris JacksonSenior Vice President, USPublic Affairs+1 202 420-2025

[email protected]

Annaleise Azevedo Lohr

Director, U.S.

Public Affairs

+1 202 420-2025

[email protected]

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