Majority says tariffs, inflation erasing their hard work: Survey

A majority of Americans said in a new survey that tariffs and inflation are erasing their hard work. 

WalletHub’s poll, which was released on Tuesday, found that 55 percent of U.S. adults think that inflation and tariffs are negating their work. 

President Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of U.S. trading partners went into effect earlier this month. Now, nearly all imports face a 10 percent import tax. 

The president threatened to slap additional tariffs on nations that do not yank digital taxes, saying Monday night that they are harming technology from the U.S. 

“Digital Taxes, Digital Services Legislation, and Digital Markets Regulations are all designed to harm, or discriminate against, American Technology,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. 

A large majority of respondents, seven in 10, said they are working harder this year than in 2024, according to the survey. 

About 40 percent of respondents are concerned that artificial intelligence (AI) will take their jobs, the poll found. A survey from Reuters/Ipsos, published earlier this month, found that 71 percent of Americans are worried that improvements in AI will cause permanent job losses for a large number of employees in the U.S. 

Respondents in the WalletHub survey have also said that the job market has not improved much, with nearly 60 percent arguing that it is not end to get a job. 

“I see a number of potential concerns for workers in the short and medium terms. Tariffs, though much lower than originally proposed, will be a drag on the bottom line of many employers. These employers will look for savings in other parts of their business, which I believe will squeeze labor, said Joshua Congdon-Hohman, an associate economics professor at the College of the Holy Cross. 

The survey was conducted among 200 respondents.