The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday, July 8, edition that so far, the United States economy is holding up: Hiring is healthy and inflation has remained tame. A Bloomberg dispatch to The Globe reports that the Federal Reserve, however, is wary about tariffs despite pressure from President Donald Trump to lower rates, and wants to see how they feed through to output in the next few months. Mr. Trump's push to change U.S. trade policy has created uncertainty for markets and supply-chain managers as they try to predict impacts on production and consumer demand. While Mr. Trump often says "tariffs" is his favorite word, the economic consequences may surprise him. Contrary to his belief, it is American importers who bear the cost of these duties, facing tighter profit margins and difficult decisions about raising prices or negotiating discounts with foreign suppliers. Bloomberg Economics estimates that if reciprocal tariffs are raised to their threatened levels on Wednesday, the average duties on all U.S. imports could climb to about 20 per cent from near 3 per cent before Mr. Trump's inauguration in January. That would add to multiple risks to the U.S. outlook.