You’re right that that’s an option, but increasing the price of various goods can make them unaffordable or unappealing. I know I changed my habits as soon as eggs went over $4 a dozen.

Could be, those have a lot of international inputs in many cases though.

The perception would absolutely not be the same, and US companies are also not exempted from paying them. Most people don’t understand that tariffs are taxes paid on imports, paid by those who import them. They think tariffs are magical and the money comes from foreigners.

People may start to understand if/when the price hikes start affecting them directly. For now only retirees with stock market holdings have seen a drop.

The reason that the stock market cratered in response to this was that regular consumers are about to get hit with a 25%+ price increase on literally everything they buy. If you don’t make 25% more paycheck, you’re going to be cutting your lifestyle by the difference. Companies know this and are anticipating major lost revenue because people won’t have money to spend on their products. The price increases are probably going to be in full swing in 2-3 months, but that’s an educated guess, only.