GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — President Donald Trump is fulfilling a campaign promise to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China.
"I'll be putting the tariff of 25% on Canada and separately 25% on Mexico," President Trump said.
The tariffs are expected to take effect on imported goods Saturday.
These taxes are paid by the company bringing the product into the U.S., not the country of origin or the manufacturer.
Trump has said there are multiple reasons for these tariffs.
One is to pressure countries into stopping the flow of undocumented immigrants and fentanyl into the country. Two, to boost domestic manufacturing.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already hinted at a response to this policy.
"If tariffs are implemented against Canada, we will respond. We won't relent until tariffs are removed and, of course, everything is on the table," Trudeau said. "I won't sugarcoat it: Our nation could be facing difficult times in the coming days and weeks."
Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum shared a similar sentiment earlier Friday.
The total impact of these new tariffs is not clear right now. What we know for sure is that people and businesses are already preparing for potential price hikes in the future.
"We're buying $30 boxes of diapers and, like, is that going to get more expensive? It's already hard to provide for me, her, like, our family," Marissa Kinney said.
Many Michiganders are trying to understand the overall impact this policy is going to have on their everyday lives.
"I guess I'm going to keep an open mind about it. I'm not sure how it's going to affect everything in the long run," Carson Morton said.
The long run is what many businesses are also trying to plan for.
"Uncertainty is a thing. We like to say business love certainty. Like, tell us what's going to happen so they can make informed decisions," Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Government Affairs Josh Lunger said.
The local chamber represents around 3,000 employers in West Michigan.
"People have to make supply chain decisions. They have to make long-term growth plans. They have to make staffing and workforce decisions," Lunger added.
He explained that he was talking with his counterparts at the National Chamber of Commerce. Lunger adds they're expecting potential price increases on gas, groceries, manufacturing and clothes.
"We'll have to wait and see a little bit. I would say, in general, these policies could be a threat to inflationary pressures and to the American consumer and the price of our goods," Lunger added.
This is not the first time Trump has imposed tariffs.
"So last time, it shook up supply chains, and we started to have to source things from different places," Seidman College Of Business Associate Dean Paul Isley said.
Agriculture was one industry that was really impacted by the president's first stint.
"China started to take more soybeans from Brazil, and we started to send more to other places, like Japan. And so it shook up that supply chain in and of itself," Isley added.
Isley has studied tariffs for 40 years.
"A tariff is a tax, and taxes can distort the choices that people make, and that's what's happening here," Isley explained.
The economics professor adds that these tariffs could be a bargaining tactic.
"The question is, can he get something of value more than that cost? And that's what we're going to be watching as we go play through the next month here," Isley said.
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