President Trump’s tariffs against goods from Mexico, Canada and China could raise prices

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – President Donald Trump has paused tariffs against Canada and Mexico for 30 days. Tariffs against China are set to go into effect Tuesday at midnight. Some people say their wallets are already stretched thin and according to a recent report from economists, the typical U.S. household could spend up to $1,200 more every year because of Trump’s tariffs.

“I’d be really bummed out if I had to spend more money on groceries coming up with these tariffs,” Dustin Elston, Shopper said.

Mexico and Canada are retaliating with tariffs against the United States which could impact the prices at the grocery store and at the gas pump.

“I do understand their frustration as well. You know, if we’re going to tax them, then they want to tax us,” Emily Yellin, Shopper said.

Dr. Alphonso Ogbuehi, Dean of Business at Johnson C. Smith university says the price changes could impact everything from groceries, to electronics, to gas.

“The price of gas will probably increase more in the short term. Particularly, because we depend on Canada, for example for natural gas as well as on other forms of energy,” Dr. Ogbuehi said.

He says there are positive and negative sides to tariffs.

“In general, tariffs tend to have a more negative impact, it doesn’t have to be all the time,” Dr. Ogbuehi said. “There could be industries, for example, the auto industry that could benefit from sort of more protected economy where you allow local producers to produce more provided local buyers, consumers buy locally made products. That’s a good thing.”

He says higher prices on imported goods could mean consumers will buy more American made products.

“Imagine if you decide that you know what, you don’t want any avocado from Mexico. You’re just going to be okay with avocado from California, even if it costs $0.10 or $0.20 higher. So that means more money for the US economy,” Dr. Ogbuehi said.

Some shoppers hope the government finds other ways to make money without hitting consumers where it hurts.

“I think that if we needed to raise more revenue, it shouldn’t be coming from me and people like me. I think it should be coming from people that make a lot more money than me,” Dustin Elson shopper said.

Some experts say that we are not close to a trade war at this time. They say they expect for some compromise to be reached between all countries involved, but in the meantime we could see some prices go up and supply chain disruptions for certain imports.