Whether you love them or hate them, the new tariffs on imported goods, especially from China, has not seemed to have had much of an impact on the US economy - yet.

The value of the tariffs paid have not surprisingly been on the rise. As shown in the graphic below, the amount of dollars paid in tariffs by US importers has been rising steadily in recent months, as the impact of the first round of tariffs has taken effect.

Tariffs Paid by US Importers by Month

Source: Tariffs Hurt the Heartland

The $4.4 billion in tariffs - which obviously raises the effective price of imported goods - represent a 54% increase compared to September 2017, although the total value of imports increased by only 10%.

That obviously helps some sectors, such as US steel makers, who gain some price protection from the tariffs, but hurts others, say car makers that use some imported steel.

A second round of tariffs on about $200 billion of imports just became effective in September, so the total for October should be interesting.

SCDigest notes that the value of the Chinese Yuan has been falling sharply in recent weeks to levels not seen since 2008, is offsetting some of the tariff costs.

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