It should have been clear on April 2 when President Donald Trump stood in what had been the White House Rose Garden and announced tariffs on everything from everywhere: This would affect the daily lives of the average person in this country. But the announced change was hard to take in and complex: a new base tariff and a range of specifically assigned tariffs to 57 countries. The administration said that the tariffs would be paid by foreigners, not American consumers. The mystery of who bears the cost of the tariffs was finally resolved on November 14, the day that the Trump administration released the welcome news that exemptions are now going into effect on a list of over 200 food items. This confirmed that the president‘s economic advisors knew that it is the American consumer who bears the "reciprocal" tariffs on imports of food.