America's War on Imports

The Impact of Trump's Tariffs on Consumers

OPINION

Michael Kurek

2/1/20252 min read

America's War on Imports

The Impact of Trump's Tariffs on Consumers

OPINION

Michael Kurek

2/1/2025 - 2 min read

I’m sure many of you have heard about future tariffs the U.S. president plans to impose this weekend. According to multiple reports, and directly from the White House, today, February 1st, Trump will order tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China. If he does is one question, seeing as our current president seems to say a lot with no intention of going through with it. These tariffs will range from 10% to 25%, with Canada and Mexico taking the brunt of it.

If you’re into the whole “America First,” this might sound like a great idea to raise revenue for the government. That is until you realize a tariff placed on other nations will only increase the costs of these products for consumers. This will primarily affect low-income households, who won’t be able to afford the difference.

Reasons this will increase costs for consumers are going to require some understanding of tariffs. Firstly, a tariff is a tax on goods that are (in this scenario) levied on goods imported into the country. The overseas manufacturing company or the American importing company will generally pay these taxes. But, due to how businesses operate, they aren’t just going to eat these costs; they will instead increase the selling price of these products to offset them. In other words, it will increase the cost of these products for consumers. Now, a 25% tariff on products is an astronomically high percent. But they have been used throughout history, especially in the past few hundred years. The average tariff was around 20% to 60% in the 1700s to early 1900s. This number decreased to around 5% after the 1930s, once globalization started taking hold.

Tariffs used to play a big part in the U.S. government's federal revenue, but since federal income tax and payroll tax became a thing in the early 1900s, we’ve seen tariffs becoming less and less important. One thing is for sure: you might like the sound of the “America First” position this administration has taken, but tariffs at this high a percentage on three of our largest trade partners will increase the costs for consumers at an incredibly high level.