Trump’s tariffs start to hurt on main street, USAーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
now it’s been one month since Donald Trump’s return to the White House he kicked off his second term by announcing a raft of tariffs on imports from trading partners neighbors Mexico and Canada face levies of 25% which were suspended for a month after they agreed to beef up border security China was next in the firing line with an additional 10% tariff starting February 4th Beijing responded by slapping Levy on some us Imports Trump then announced a 25% tariff on steel and aluminum scheduled to take effect on March 12th a national survey by the Marquette law school poll between January 2nd and February 5th shows most Americans have doubts about tariffs being effective the survey that pulled more than 1,000 adults shows 46% think tariffs will hurt the US economy while 24% believe they will help about 133% say tariffs won’t have much effect and 177% are uncertain Trump’s trade policy is already starting to hit small businesses in the US including supermarkets and hardware stores NHK world’s kikuya makeno has the story I agree with uh not everything Trump’s doing right now make no mistake about that though I did vote for him but I agree with with the Tariff that fair is fair I don’t think anybody’s going to win on this uh issue here I wish we’re not going to do it opinions may be divided on the president’s policies but they are forcing up prices on Main Street USA this is a supermarket in New York City’s Chinatown products imported from China among popular items store manager uan XI has worked here for about 10 years he says the new Duty on Chinese reports has raised the Ley on food products to 35% from 25% his wholesalers sent him a letter saying prices for Chinese Goods will increase by 10% starting March 1st he is talking up on non perishable goods from China to try and slow the pace of passing on the costs to customers normally we wouldn’t import this much stuff this is all for the tariffs so we are storing two to three times more Goods than usual he has also started to switch to Taiwan suppliers as the products are not subject to additional tariffs so I’ve heard many wholesalers are going to Taiwan to Source Products other stores have started to raise prices at this hardware store a St for rapidly to replace price tax this is in response to the government’s change in tariff policies and the store expects it would take about a few weeks to complete the process owner Sarah patkin says about 40% of the stores products are from China and she had no choice but to raise prices by 10% she said small businesses cannot just absorb the Tariff costs and need to hike prices to pay employees I don’t like raising prices but um it’s a lot of responsibility make sure that I can have everybody come to work and can keep people on staff she has another major concern bbec grills they are one of the store’s best seasonal sellers but she worries that the planned 25% tariff on steel and aluminum will hit sales hard so yes tariffs can be helpful but let’s look at how we’re doing it and let’s make sure everybody’s ready we can’t if we just start charging more for product that we in the US can’t make yet it’s not going to help Joseph FY a professor in the department of Economics at New York University says the tariffs will harm smaller businesses more than large ones I think small businesses are the most vulnerable companies they have the least smallest profit margins and they often have the less the least amount of money in the bank um they can’t afford to maintain large inventories so with tariffs you know some large companies have started to stockpile products these these smaller companies can’t afford to do that it’s just a terrible dilemma for small businesses and they’re really going to struggle their customers are often the ones who are very sensitive and the first to kind of notice price increases FY says history show shows that tariffs like Trump has imposed eventually hurt the industries that rely on them he says tariffs insulate companies and so they lose focus on productivity and become less competitive over time kikuyama Kango NHK World New York
US President Donald Trump launched his second term with a barrage of tariffs on imports. His goal is to slash the deficit, but the levies are also driving up prices for regular consumers. #trump #usa #china #taiwan
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