SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - It’s been nearly 100 days since President Donald Trump was sworn into office. Since starting his second term, the President has made several economic policy shifts, including tariffs. We spoke with a financial expert about the potential price increases we could expect with the tariffs.
“It all depends how the uncertainty will resolve,” Marc Muendler of UC San Diego said.
Muendler is the economics department chair at UC San Diego.
“We’re all in a similar boat now. We tend to think of Southern California or California, and is it going to be so much different elsewhere?” Muendler said.
ABC 10News spoke with experts about how the cost of living has changed or could change following the tariffs implemented by President Trump.
“The goods that have short inventories - food is among them - they will be the first to be hit by the actual tariffs,” Muendler said.
“Meaning once the inventory is depleted, the new goods coming in are much more expensive, at least 10 percent more expensive than before.”
However, he said that some durable goods, such as cars, could see a more tangible and sooner impact, given people’s anticipation of being hit hard by the tariffs.
“In anticipation of that future price rise, consumers are doing the right thing by buying up the current inventory that hasn’t been hit by the tariffs yet. But as they do, they are bidding up the prices,” Muendler said.
The President announced he put a 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariffs, except for those on China.
Muendler said that how the tariffs will impact the cost of living will depend on the negotiations between trade partners and the Trump Administration. “Then the question is what will happen in July. “Will the Trump administration say we are going through now; this is it. The reciprocal tariffs hit,” Muendler said
“Or will they say, well, it was a daunting task, many countries have come, it’s serious, let’s negotiate. Let’s have another extension to the pause. How do we know?”
