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Advancing American Freedom Foundation is a nonprofit institution that promotes and defends policies that elevate traditional American values.
PLYMOUTH INSTITUTE P ROTECTIONISM S ERVES THE S WAMP
Rachel Greszler, Senior Research Fellow JANUARY 26, 2026
TOPLINE: K Street loves tariffs, Main Street hates them. President Trump’s evolving tariff policies are a boon for lobbying revenues; ordinary families and businesses pay the price.
BACKGROUND: Over the past year, President Trump’s more than 120 tariff actions and selective exemptions have contributed to record lobbying expenditures. While big corporations lobby for special exemptions, small businesses and families pay tariff taxes.
• 496% increase in tariff lobbying revenues1 in Q4 2025 compared to Q4 2024. • 1,550% increase in Q4 tariff lobbying revenues compared to 2016, Pre-Trump levels. • 189% increase in Q4 registered tariff lobbying disclosures this year compared to 2024.
• As tariff taxes surged to $288.5 billion in 2025 (up from $98.3 billion in 2024), American households and businesses paid more for goods and services affected by tariffs. • The economy had added just 93,000 jobs in the eight months since Liberation Day, compared to a gain of 491,000 jobs in the first four months of 2025.
Tariffs Are Hurting Those They Aim To Help. Since Liberation Day:
• The U.S. has lost 72,000 manufacturing jobs and 18,000 mining and logging jobs. • Manufacturers’ costs have increased 50 percent more than other producers’ costs. • Auto sales are down 13% and 28,000 auto manufacturing jobs have been cut.
BOTTOMLINE: Americans—not foreign countries—pay tariffs, and tariffs are holding back American jobs and the free enterprise system that makes America great.
1 Tariff lobbying revenues include lobbying contracts that list tariffs as one of, or the only lobbying issue.
Advancing American Freedom Foundation is a nonprofit institution that promotes and defends policies that elevate traditional American values.