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04 Apr, 2025
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These items will see higher prices in the US thanks to Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs
@Source: washingtonexaminer.com
Here are the top products expected to see price increases due to tariffs: Food and drinks The U.S. depends heavily on imports for many foods — and entirely for some. According to the Yale Budget Lab, the new tariffs will increase fresh produce prices by 4% and overall food prices by 2.8%. The most affected foods and beverages include coffee, chocolate, vanilla, bananas, fruits, shrimp, and vegetables. Among those items, shrimp and coffee will be hit hardest. The U.S. imports 99% of its coffee, according to the National Coffee Association, with only small-scale production in Puerto Rico and Hawaii. It also imports 94% of its shrimp — 90% of which comes from Ecuador, which faces a 10% tariff, India, 26%, Indonesia, 32%, and Vietnam, 46%. The rise in coffee prices will have a large impact on most Americans, as 63% of U.S. adults consume it daily. By comparison, just 10% of Americans consume eggs daily. While shrimp will be one of the hardest hit for the time being, previously facing no import duties, it could also serve as one of the most obvious U.S. industries to be helped by the tariffs. “We’ve watched as multigenerational family businesses tie up their boats, unable to compete with foreign producers who play by a completely different set of rules,” John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, said in a statement. “We are grateful for the Trump Administration’s actions today, which will preserve American jobs, food security, and our commitment to ethical production.“ A U.S. culinary staple, hamburgers, may also be hit. The U.S. only imports 12% of its beef, but its imported beef from Australia is highly prized due to its low-fat content, according to Reuters. It’s often mixed with domestic beef to achieve the ideal fat content for McDonald’s burgers. Although the U.S. is a global leader in textile research and development, nearly all of its clothing is imported. Just 3% of apparel is made domestically, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission data, compared to 28.7% in China and 25.4% in Vietnam — two of the hardest-hit countries under the new tariffs. The top five exporters account for three-quarters of U.S. clothing imports. Textile industry leaders expressed outrage over the sky-high tariffs, complaining that the U.S. doesn’t have the will to bring textile manufacturing back to the U.S. “If we burden the cost of apparel and the U.S. doesn’t really have an interest in building an apparel industry, then the costs are going up,” Jim Kilpatrick, a partner at Deloitte who specializes in supply chains, told Axios. “That doesn’t really make sense,” he said, arguing that tariffs should focus on high-tech industries and security assets. “Where labor isn’t as big of a piece of the overall cost component, tariffs will certainly help to shift the playing field. Clothing is relatively cheap in the U.S. because labor costs in major exporters such as China, Vietnam, and Bangladesh are so low, drawing criticism for inhumane working conditions. Clothing prices would increase if manufacturing was brought to the United States, due to minimum wage and labor laws. Nike, which relies on factories in Vietnam, saw its stock fall by 12% at opening on Thursday. iPhones/tech Some of the most popular phones in the U.S., including the iPhone, could see prices rise by more than 40%, according to Forbes, with some analysts projecting even higher increases. Apple has invested heavily in Chinese production since 1997, designing its products in the U.S. while manufacturing them overseas. Experts say fully shifting production to the U.S. would take years and be prohibitively expensive. “Apple has already announced a $500 billion investment in the US along with Trump in February…the reality is it would take 3 years and $30 billion dollars in our estimation to move even 10% of its supply chain from Asia to the U.S. with major disruption in the process,” analyst Dan Ives wrote Thursday. “For US consumers the reality of a $1000 iPhone being one of the best made consumer products on the planet would disappear,” he continued, adding that making iPhones in “New Jersey or Texas or another state” would boost their price tag to $3500. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick defended the move in an interview on CNBC, saying that such a crucial component of American life should be produced domestically. “9,000 miles away, our way of life is being built, and Donald Trump is saying, ‘Come on, that’s got to be here,'” he said. “We all hold our iPhones, which we love — why do they have to be made in Taiwan and China? Why can’t those be made with robotics in America? And you know what Donald Trump has said? They’re going to be made in America,” Lutnick added. Apple was one of the biggest stocks hit by Liberation Day, falling 9.3% on Thursday. The drop represented the largest fall since COVID-19 in March 2020. Forbes estimated that Apple consumers could see a 43% price hike for Apple Watches, 42% for iPads, and 39% for AirPods and Mac computers. Alcohol consumers will feel the impact of tariffs, as many popular drinks are imported. Wines produced in the European Union and Scotch whiskey from the United Kingdom will see significant price increases. The Irish whiskey sector exports 40% of its production to the U.S., according to Reuters. Dutch Heineken and Mexican Corona are also expected to be heavily affected. The new tariffs, alongside market uncertainty and threats of further tariffs, could cause some brands to disappear from the U.S. “Many labels, which cannot be replaced by local production, will disappear from the tables of U.S. consumers, while a serious production and employment crisis is looming in Italy and Europe,” Micaela Pallini, president of Italian trade association Federvini, said in a statement. One lingering fear is Trump’s floated 200% tariffs on European alcohol. “If it goes up to 200%, that’ll be game over. The U.S. market will be finished,” Frederic Zeimett, CEO of Champagne Leclerc Briant, said. One winner of the tariffs is the U.S. domestic beer industry. The Teamsters urged Trump to put last month in order to save the struggling domestic beer industry. One winner of the tariffs is the U.S. domestic beer industry. Last month, the Teamsters called on Trump to impose tariffs on Mexican beer to help the struggling sector. “The U.S. has one of the highest shares of beer imports when compared with other large countries, with beer imports even exceeding foreign imports in other high-profile categories of trade such as automobiles,” Teamsters head Sean O’Brien said. “As you may be aware, the vast majority of U.S. beer imports come from Mexico, where labor costs and wages are a fraction of what they are in the United States.” “Our nation’s trade policy should be driving a race-to-the-top in terms of labor standards across North America, not forcing U.S. workers to compete with low-road Mexican companies that pay their workers pennies on the dollar in a race-to-the-bottom,” he continued. The auto industry is one of the hardest hit by tariffs, with Trump aiming to revive U.S. auto production. The Biden administration has taken a similar stance, imposing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles to compete with China’s booming EV industry. On Thursday, Trump instituted a 25% tariff on all auto imports. According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump warned the CEOs of some automakers not to raise their car prices in a call last month, adding that he “couldn’t care less” if foreign automakers raised their prices in response to tariffs. STOCK MARKET TUMBLES AFTER TRUMP’S ‘LIBERATION DAY’ TARIFFS Imported cars could see a price increase of up to $20,000, the Anderson Economic Group told Forbes. American consumers could pay an additional $2,000 to $5,000 for lower-end cars produced in the U.S., and Goldman Sachs estimated a cost increase of $5,000 and $15,000 per vehicle for imported cars. “This is going to lead to the construction of a lot of plants, in this case, auto plants,” Trump said when announcing the tariffs. “You’re going to see numbers like you haven’t seen… in terms of employment. You’re going to have a lot of people making a lot of cars.”
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