DAVIE, Fla. – With President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on three of America’s biggest trading partners, South Florida families can expect to see higher prices on just about everything, an expert at Nova Southeastern University says.
“What do tariffs do to prices? Generally, they cause them to go up,” Albert Williams, an associate professor of finance and economics at NSU, said.
Affected products could range from avocados to trucks made in Mexico.
“If you add tariffs to them, then the trucks, when we import them, will cost us from three to $12,000 more per truck,” he said.
Canada is responding with tariffs of its own. Trump argues this will stimulate American production.
Is he right?
“There no such thing as an absolute right. There’s some plus and minuses,” Williams said. “One of the biggest benefits of a tariff is that the government revenue collected at the border will increase tremendously.”
How that revenue helps the American family is too soon to tell. Some economists estimate the average household could be spending $1,000 to 2,000 more per year.
“Everything is changing by the day. We like to look at 100 days at a time,” Williams said. “So we haven’t gotten anywhere close to 100 days yet. So we’re hoping that we’ll see some stability. Right now, the world is very uncertain.”
Economists say they are watching closely and there is no need to panic. They do say that they can expect to see some people wanting to purchase more American products, but Williams said be warned that those products may start costing a little more to stay competitive.