WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. businesses and consumers paid 6 billion U.S. dollars in tariffs in June, one of the highest tariffed months in U.S. history, new data showed Wednesday.

The cost saw an increase of 2.5 billion dollars, or 74 percent, from the same month last year, said anti-tariff advocacy group Tariffs Hurt the Heartland.

The data, compiled from the U.S. Census Bureau, looked at the impact of an escalation of tariffs on 200 billion dollars of Chinese goods from 10 to 25 percent in May.

In total, U.S. taxpayers have paid over 27 billion dollars in extra import tariffs from the beginning of the trade disputes in 2018 through June of this year, the group said.

It added that the overwhelming majority -- nearly 75 percent -- of those tariffs are due to added tariffs on Chinese imports.

"Americans are already paying record-high tariffs, and the biggest hit to consumers is still to come on September 1," Tariffs Hurt the Heartland spokesman Jonathan Gold said in a statement.

The remarks referred to Washington's recent plan to impose an additional 10-percent tariff on the remaining 300 billion dollars worth of Chinese goods.

Aside from record-setting tariffs on imports, the data released showed that U.S. exports, including farm products, "are being battered by retaliatory tariffs," which expanded in June, the group said.

Retaliatory tariffs resulted in a 17-percent drop in U.S. exports for products that have been targeted, it added.

Noting that the tariffs imposed by Washington are "costing American jobs, raising prices, hurting farmers and derailing U.S. economic growth," the group urged the administration to "change course," and called on Congress to "get off the sidelines and take back its legislative authority on trade."