The recent stock market downturn reflects the concern that some of this is being unwound. And the reason for this is rather simple. Tariffs are a corporate fee paid by the importing company.

U.S. producer prices were unchanged in February for the first time in seven months, while fewer Americans filed claims for unemployment benefits last week, pointing to a stable economy that should allow the Federal Reserve to keep interest rates steady next Wednesday.

Excluding volatile food and energy prices, so-called core wholesale prices fell 0.1% last month from January, first drop since July. Core producer prices rose 3.4%, lower than the 3.8% year-over-year gain in January. The numbers were all lower than economists had expected.

As CPI report shows inflation continued at 2.8 percent in February, tariffs fueled worries of another recession, which President Donald Trump has declined to rule out.

Wholesale Producer Price Index inflation stayed flat in February while economists surveyed by Dow Jones had expected a 0.3% increase. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday PPI inflation was 3.2% for the 12 months ended in February.