Here Are Some Goods In The Crosshairs Of Trump’s Tariffs On Mexico, Canada And China | EUROtoday

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President Donald Trump signed an order to place tariffs on U.S. neighbors Canada and Mexico, in addition to China, beginning Tuesday. Canada and Mexico rapidly introduced retaliatory tariffs, whereas China stated it could take “necessary countermeasures.”

The enterprise between the North American nations now exceeds China, totaling $1.8 trillion in 2023. That is way better than the $643 billion in commerce that the U.S. did with China in that very same 12 months.

Trump declared an financial emergency Saturday with a view to place duties of 10% on all imports from China and 25% on imports from Mexico and Canada. Energy imported from Canada, together with oil, pure gasoline and electrical energy, could be taxed at a decrease 10% price.

Following are just some imported items whose costs could also be hit first:

A ‘grenade’ lobbed into auto manufacturing

For a long time, auto firms have constructed provide chains that cross the borders of the United States, Mexico and Canada. More than one in 5 of the automobiles and lightweight vans offered within the United States had been in-built Canada or Mexico, in keeping with S&P Global Mobility. In 2023, the United States imported $69 billion value of automobiles and lightweight vans from Mexico – greater than every other nation ― and $37 billion from Canada. Another $78 billion in auto components got here from Mexico and $20 billion from Canada. The engines in Ford F-series pickups and the long-lasting Mustang sports activities coupe, for example, come from Canada.

“You have engines and car seats and other things that cross the border multiple times before going into a finished vehicle,’’ said Scott Lincicome, a trade analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute. “You have American parts going to Mexico to be put into vehicles that are then shipped back to the United States.

“You throw 25% tariffs into all that, and it’s just a grenade.’’

China is also a major supplier of auto parts to the U.S.

In a report Tuesday, S&P Global Mobility reckoned that “importers are likely to pass most, if not all, of this (cost) increase to consumers.’’ TD Economics notes that average U.S. car prices could rise by around $3,000 – this at a time when the average new car already goes for $50,000 and the average used car for $26,000, according to Kelley Blue Book.

Higher prices at the pump

Canada is by far America’s biggest foreign supplier of crude oil. From January through November last year, Canada shipped the U.S. $90 billion worth of crude, well ahead of No. 2 Mexico at $11 billion.

For many U.S. refineries, there’s not much choice. Canada produces the “type of crude oil that American refineries are geared to process,’’ Lincicome said. “It’s a heavier crude. All the fracking and all the oil and gas we make here in the United States – or most of it – is a lighter crude that a lot of American refineries don’t process, particularly in the Midwest.’’

Of the tariffs on Canadian oil imports, Lincicome said, “how the heck does that shake out? My guess is that it shakes out just through higher gas prices, particularly in the Midwest.’’ TD Economics figures that Trump’s tariffs could push up U.S. gasoline prices by 30 cents to 70 cents a gallon.

Computers, Clothes and Toys

Tariffs on China could impact a wide variety of consumer goods that Americans depend on. Cell phones, computers and other electronic devices were among the top imports from China last year, according to Commerce Department data.

The U.S. also imported more than $32 billion in “toys, games and sporting goods” from China final 12 months, information reveals.

And Americans import billions of {dollars} a 12 months in clothes from China. That consists of greater than $7.9 billion in footwear final 12 months, in keeping with Commerce Department information.

Trouble in Margaritaville

Tariffs may increase the worth for these elevating a glass of tequila or Canadian whisky.

In 2023, the U.S. imported $4.6 billion value of tequila and $108 million value of mezcal from Mexico, in keeping with the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a commerce group. The U.S. imported $537 million value of Canadian spirits, together with $202.5 million value of whisky.

Canada and Mexico had been additionally the second- and third-largest importers of U.S. spirits in 2023, behind the European Union, the council stated.

The council stated the U.S. is already going through a doubtlessly devastating 50% tariff on American whiskey by the European Union, which is about to start in March. Imposing tariffs on Mexico and Canada may pile much more retaliatory motion on the business.

Chris Swonger, the council’s president and CEO, stated he appreciates the objective of defending U.S. jobs. But tequila and Canadian whisky – like Kentucky bourbon ― are designated as distinctive merchandise that may solely be made of their nation of origin.

“At the end of the day, tariffs on spirits products from our neighbors to the north and south are going to hurt U.S. consumers and lead to job losses across the U.S. hospitality industry, just as these businesses continue their long recovery from the pandemic,” Swonger stated.

Expensive avocados, simply in time for the Super Bowl

For American customers nonetheless exasperated by excessive grocery costs, a commerce warfare with Canada, Mexico and China may very well be painful. In 2023, the U.S. purchased greater than $45 billion in agricultural merchandise from Mexico –together with 63% of imported greens and 47% of fruits and nuts. Farm imports from Canada got here to $40 billion. A 25% tariff may push costs up.

“Grocery shops function on actually tiny margins,’’ Lincicome stated. “They can’t eat the tariffs … particularly once you discuss issues like avocados that principally all of them – 90% ― come from Mexico. You’re speaking about guacamole tariffs proper earlier than the Super Bowl.’’

U.S. farmers are nervous, too, that Canada and Mexico will retaliate by slapping tariffs on American merchandise resembling soybeans and corn. That’s what occurred within the first Trump administration. China and different targets of Trump tariffs hit again by focusing on the president’s supporters in rural America. Exports of soybeans and different farm merchandise dropped, so Trump spent billions of U.S. taxpayer cash to reimburse farmers for misplaced gross sales.

“President Trump was pretty much as good as his phrase,’’ stated Mark McHargue, a Central City, Nebraska, farmer who grows corn, soybeans, popcorn and raises hogs. “It did take the sting out of it. That’s for certain.’’ But he would like to see the federal government push to open international markets to American farm exports. “We would fairly get our cash from the market,’’ stated McHargue, president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau. “It doesn’t really feel nice to get a authorities test.’’

Associated Press Writers Josh Boak in Washington, Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit and Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia contributed this story.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-tariffs-import-targets_n_67a04f4ae4b0702fa9400b56