This may be your last chance at a 12-pack of flat-screen televisions, thanks to Donald Trump.
With a slew of tariffs on foreign goods announced in the first two years of his tenure in the office formerly reserved for Presidents, Trump has touted his international trade strategy as a necessary tool in the administration’s geopolitical arsenal. Until now, the policies and their effects have been felt sparingly. While car and motorcycle companies grapple with the brave new economic world, most consumers have been hard-pressed to notice a severe difference in price.
But Trump, who has yet to encounter a broad coalition he couldn’t manage to alienate, is sure to ruin Black Fridays for years to come with his ham-handed trade war.
By this time next year, Trump’s tariffs on foreign goods, most notably the 25% tariff on billions in Chinese goods, will make you, the consumer, the biggest turkey of all.
Major corporations like Walmart, Coca-Cola, Costco, Toyota and Jack Daniels have all admitted to plans to raise prices to offset the strain induced by tariffs.
“Once you get to that 25% mark, that’s when you’re going to see more price increases for the end consumer,” Christopher Shaker, a consumer-products analyst who is a partner at the consulting firm RSM, told CNN Business.
Prices for this year’s crop of Black Friday goods were set before tariffs came into effect, and Trump is set to meet with suited Chinese generalissimo Xi Jinping. Still, for the time being, the tariffs are here to stay, and Trump’s record in meetings with foreign leaders is more Washington Generals than Harlem Globetrotters.
Happy Friday, folks!