GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. — During his Rose Garden announcement, President Trump revealed a tariff breakdown that will significantly impact imports.
The U.S. will now impose a 34% tax on imports from China, a 20% tax on imports from the European Union, and a 25% tax on imports from South Korea. Additionally, 22 other countries have also been targeted.
Trump referred to his tariff policy as "kind of reciprocal," suggesting that any harsher measures could unfairly affect America's trading partners, adding that he "could have been much harsher." He expressed high hopes that these sweeping tariffs will ultimately benefit Americans.
However, not everyone agrees with the President. Critics view his claims about creating a new economic golden age as misplaced at best and catastrophic at worst.
Questions are rising among Michiganders as they seek to understand what these tariffs will mean for their finances.
Local business Rishi's International Beverage, located in Beer City, USA, is already feeling the impact. Owner Rishi Maarak expressed concerns about the tariffs, particularly regarding imported beers. "A lot of the walk-in traffic is if it's not wine, then it's beer," he said. He added, "I think we'll see a reciprocal effect from beers like Modelo, Corona, Newcastle, Heineken. 25% is quite a bit."
At Wednesday’s press conference, Trump also announced a 10% tariff on nearly all goods entering the U.S., along with higher rates for countries with significant trade deficits with the U.S.
Professor Matthew Ross an Associate Professor of Finance at the Western Michigan University commented, "That's going to be an enormous impact. And of course, for U.S. consumers, we should expect to pay most of the tariff most of the time." He also noted that there is a previously announced 25% tariff on all foreign automobile imports, which he believes will have a noticeable effect on Michigan.
"That's going to shake things up in a place like Michigan. So limiting competition from abroad, or creating a much higher cost for autos coming in from abroad, is definitely going to have a big impact," Ross added.
The response from the affected countries remains uncertain. Ross noted, "We don’t know how other nations are going to respond to this. So I'm confident that this is a really big shock to the system, but how it's going to shake out remains somewhat unclear."
While Rishi believes the tariffs "could" promote local buying, stating that it may "hurt the import sales, but it'll help the domestic and local," Ross cautioned that there would still be consequences.
"In all likelihood, the producers locally are going to have higher costs for their items coming in based on some of the response from other nations," he said. "So I would expect generally, items to be more expensive whether they're produced locally or abroad.”
Follow FOX 17: Facebook - X (formerly Twitter) - Instagram - YouTube
