Folks who voted for President Donald Trump because they thought consumer goods would become less costly, I’m gonna need you to take this L: Making an omelette is not gonna be cheaper anytime soon.
Trump’s only been back in office a couple weeks, and it seems like everything is going to hell in a handbasket — especially for Black people. From federal workers being barred from celebrating Black History Month, to banning transgender individuals from serving in the military, the list goes on and on. Now, we have his latest move: imposing tariffs on China, Canada and Mexico.
Let me break it down: Trump announced this month he would hit Mexico and Canada with a 25% additional tariff on imports from both countries, and an 10% additional tariff on imports from China, all in the name of stopping illegal immigration and stopping fentanyl and other drugs from coming into the country, per the White House fact sheet.
Trump says the responsibility of paying these tariffs would fall on foreigners, but several reports explain that the tax would actually hurt the pockets of consumers...especially on items such as phones, clothing, electrical appliances. On the food and beverage side, prices will increase for fruits, vegetables, grains, beer and liquor NBC News reported.
It’ll also trigger a trade war with our country’s closest and most valuable allies. Because of course, we need more enemies.
For Black people, that’s another burden we literally can’t afford to carry. In 2023, 17.9% of Black people in the U.S. lived below the poverty line, Federal Safety Net revealed, which is more than double the rate than their white counterparts. Additional data from the USDA found that more than 9 million Black people didn’t have access to enough food to live a healthy and active lifestyle. The effects of poverty especially hit Black children, with one in four Black children having lived without reliable access to food.
And while Trump has taken credit for revitalizing the economy after succeeding former president Barack Obama in 2017, research from the Joint Economic Committee suggests that Trump inherited a strong economy from Obama’s efforts. Efforts he alluded to as “disastrous. Sound familiar?
While Trump has put a one-month pause on tariff threats toward Mexico and Canada, if or when the pause is lifted, the American people will be left to deal with the consequences, something that is a common theme from Trump’s behavior.
So again, for the people who voted for him, I must ask: Was it really worth it for some damn eggs?