The National Retail Federation (NRF) has warned that President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to impose huge tariffs on imported goods could cost consumers between $46 billion and $78 billion in spending power a year.
This week, the NRF issued a study that estimates the impact of the proposed levies on apparel, toys, furniture, household appliances, footwear and travel products.
Trump has proposed a 10–20% tariff on goods from all foreign countries, as well as an additional 60–100% tariff on imports specifically from China and a 100% tariff on nations that don’t trade in the dollar.
He believes the tariffs will make companies open factories in the United States. During the campaign, Trump said he planned to implement tariffs “so high, so horrible, so obnoxious that they’ll come right away.”
At the same event, he said, “The most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff. It’s my favorite word.”
But the NRF’s vice president of supply chain and customs policy, Jonathan Gold, countered in a statement: “A tariff is a tax paid by the U.S. importer, not a foreign country or the exporter. This tax ultimately comes out of consumers’ pockets through higher prices.”
(Photo courtesy of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)
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