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Tariffs and economic uncertainty threaten public health

Nature Human Behaviour volume 10, pages 1–2 (2026)Cite this article

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The recent threat and introduction of tariffs by the US government has caused severe economic turbulence globally. Tariffs can increase prices, disrupt trade, cause stock market volatility, threaten jobs and businesses that rely on exports, and affect economic growth, among others. The US job market is slowing down as firms facing uncertainty have grown cautious about the future and pulled back on hiring. As it stands, tariffs that were imposed on imports to the USA have been adapted or postponed, only to be further increased and even halted by courts before being reinstated, which has left people and stock markets in limbo. As a result, the volatility of global stock markets has increased; businesses within and outside of the USA face increased uncertainty and people are left worried about the future of inflation and other key economic indicators. It is thus not surprising that US and global economic policy uncertainty indexes have reached unprecedented levels.

Uncertainty is not the same as fluctuations in actual economic conditions, and it does not necessarily coincide with economic downturns. Although it is under debate whether unemployment produces procyclical effects on population health (that is, if there is a change in mortality during recessions)1, evidence consistently points to the deterioration of certain health outcomes in periods of economic uncertainty2,3,4,5,6,7.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University College London (UCL), London, UK

    Sotiris Vandoros

  2. Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

    Sotiris Vandoros & Ichiro Kawachi

Authors
  1. Sotiris Vandoros
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  2. Ichiro Kawachi
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Correspondence to Sotiris Vandoros.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Vandoros, S., Kawachi, I. Tariffs and economic uncertainty threaten public health. Nat Hum Behav 10, 1–2 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02346-8

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