[Analyst: U.S. Effective Tariff Rate Still Below Pre-Supreme Court Ruling Levels] According to a report by Golden Finance, analyst Chao Deng stated that a forecast from Yale University's Budget Lab estimates that even with the imposition of a new 15% tariff, the current effective tariff rate in the U.S. remains below the level prior to the Supreme Court ruling. Before the ruling, the rate was 16%, which immediately dropped to 9.1% after the ruling, and is now expected to rise to 13.7%. It is still unclear how the 2.3 percentage point decrease will impact employment, wage growth, and the prices of goods and services. In comparison, throughout 2025, the effective tariff rate surged by over 10 percentage points, reaching levels not seen in decades. The economic impact of this sharp increase was far less severe than many economists had predicted. However, the impact cannot be ignored. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, for most of 2025, U.S. businesses and consumers bore over 90% of the costs of the Trump tariffs, leading some companies to freeze hiring and investment. The January inflation report showed that prices for several categories of goods recently subjected to tariffs have risen, including appliances, furniture, and new cars. This indicates that retailers have started passing these costs on to consumers.