Hassett Wants Fed Researchers Punished After Tariff Study Says Americans Pay Most of It
United States – February 18, 2026 – Kevin Hassett blasted a New York Fed tariff-cost analysis on CNBC and floated punishment for the researchers, after the study found U.S. firm…
Washington runs on cold air-conditioning and hot narratives. And on February 18, 2026, the narrative took a swing at the math.
What Hassett said, and what set him off
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, went on CNBC and tore into a Federal Reserve Bank of New York research analysis about the costs of tariffs. This was not a normal policy disagreement. Hassett suggested the researchers should face punishment or discipline for publishing it.
What the New York Fed research found
The analysis Hassett targeted argued that in 2025 the bulk of tariff incidence fell on the U.S. side, meaning U.S. firms and consumers, not foreign exporters.
The estimates varied by month, but the central point held. The Liberty Street Economics post reported tariff incidence on U.S. importers of:
- 94% from January through August 2025
- 92% in September through October 2025
- 86% in November 2025
In plain English: you can call it “strategy,” you can call it “leverage,” you can wrap it in flags and slogans, but somebody still eats the cost. The researchers’ conclusion was that Americans paid most of it.
Why the threat matters more than the disagreement
The New York Fed is a regional bank, and its research output is not a formal Federal Reserve policy statement. That is exactly why the reaction is so revealing. If you are confident in your argument, you rebut the findings. If you are trying to control the perimeter of what can be said out loud, you go after the people who ran the numbers.
Threatening discipline does not win the debate. It chills the room so fewer people want to publish the next inconvenient spreadsheet.
The broader pressure campaign around the Fed
The Washington Post tied Hassett’s broadside to a broader pattern of political pressure on institutions that produce inconvenient information, including economic data and research.
It also lands while the Fed’s independence is under strain. Separate reporting described a Justice Department criminal investigation involving Fed Chair Jerome Powell tied to a renovation project at the Fed’s Washington headquarters, described as costing $2.5 billion. Powell has publicly pushed back against the probe, and Hassett previously downplayed the investigation in media appearances.
And looming over all of it is leadership politics: Trump has nominated Kevin Warsh to succeed Powell as chair, with Powell’s term ending in May 2026.
If tariffs are as flawless as the sales pitch, nobody needs to talk punishment. They can publish better evidence and take the argument to the public. The moment discipline replaces debate, it is not confidence talking. It is fear of what voters learn when the facts are allowed to breathe.
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