JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As American consumers stare down the implementation of new tariffs, Action News Jax is digging into what that means for all of us.
President Donald Trump originally announced a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods and a 10% tariff on Chinese goods.
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Mexican tariffs were set to go into effect in a month and Canadian tariffs on Tuesday. However, on Monday, Trump postponed those tariffs for at least 30 days.
Tariffs against China are still slated to go into effect on Tuesday.
In the future, these tariffs could have major impacts on the economy, especially on households and how they spend money.
Action News Jax Emily Turner took a look at how this could directly impact you and your wallet.
Overall, of this is subject to change and the countries continue to negotiate. In a worst-case scenario, tariffs would deeply affect American households, lowering their income, the tax policy center says, by nearly three thousand dollars a year.
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When it comes to protecting your pocketbook, Jonathan Gold with the National Retail Federation says headlines have never been so important.
“And across the board, we saw that the tariffs will result in price increases,” Gold said.
The grocery store will likely become an even bigger burden on your wallet. According to economists, the combined countries account for 47% of our imported vegetables and 42% of prepared foodstuffs.
Tariffs will impact items like avocados, strawberries, and tequila from Mexico, or tomatoes, flowers, and maple syrup from Canada.
The cost of construction could also skyrocket as about a third of our lumber comes from Canada. That could exacerbate the housing crisis and drive prices up.
40% of our crude oil comes from north of the border, and car prices themselves could climb as well
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Chinese tariffs will be felt on the toy aisle. As the dominant supplier to America, it also provides 40% of our footwear and 25% of all electronics.
The companies importing these goods are the ones to pay the tariffs just to get them here but how they pass those costs along to us will vary company by company.
It’s very likely that we will all pay more.
“I think, again, it’s going to depend upon the company and again, what their strategy is, whether or not they can absorb any of that cost. But a 25% increase is pretty significant,” Gold said.
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