Hassett calls New York Fed tariff study worst paper ever and demands researcher discipline

National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on February 18, 2026, that New York Federal Reserve researchers who found Americans pay approximately 90% of Trump's tariff costs should be disciplined, calling their paper the worst he had ever seen in the history of the Federal Reserve system. The New York Fed study found that U.S. importers and consumers absorbed the vast majority of tariff costs as higher prices, contradicting the White House claim that foreign exporters pay. Hassett's demand that independent government economists be disciplined for their published findings drew immediate criticism from economists and Fed watchers.