India, July 18 -- Prominent economist and former deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Gita Gopinathhas drawn attention to a new research paper, saying it delivers bad news for US consumers bearing the brunt of Trump's tariffs.

In a post on X, she shared an IMF working paper that shows that tariffs have led to a decline in the quality of goods the US imports. She said tariffs did little to lower export prices to the US and instead buyers shifted toward cheaper, lower-quality imports. It means Americans are now paying higher tariff-inclusive prices while also getting poorer quality products.

The IMF working paper she referenced to has been authored by researchers JaeBin Ahn, Lorenzo Rotunno and Michele Ruta. ...