Tariffs levied by President Donald Trump mean Oregonians will see higher prices for a wide swath of things — cars, electronics, toys, food, clothing, shoes, furniture, construction material — by this summer, if they’re not already.
Companies of all sizes have been warning Pacific Northwest leaders that steep tariffs on China, along with widespread import taxes on all trading partners, are raising the cost of doing business. Some businesses are already passing along at least part of the increased cost to customers, while others say they haven’t yet — but will have to raise prices by the summer.
“Tariffs just by themselves are going to affect prices, but also that uncertainty that they create is going to affect prices as well,” Anna Miromanova, assistant professor of economics at Lewis and Clark College, said. “And it’s going to affect stability within the economy. Many companies already are starting to say, ‘we’re not going to be hiring.’ Maybe they’re starting to lay off workers for those cost-cutting measures.”
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Economists like Miromanova predict prices will rise across the board, although it’s still unclear by how much. Goods and parts from China will go up the most or become harder to find, with U.S. importers facing tariffs of more than 100% on goods from the country.
Last year, Oregon companies imported more than $28 billion worth of goods from other countries, including nearly $6.7 billion from China, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Foreign Trade Division, accessed through wisertrade.org.
Tariffs increase prices, decrease certainty
The uncertainty caused by shifting tariff policies is causing consumers to hold off on making big purchases, Miromanova said, including her. She bought her first home last year with hopes of remodeling the bathroom this summer.
But construction materials are among the imported items already being hit with price hikes that could go even higher.
“I’m not going to do the bathroom remodel because, first of all, it’s going to cost so much more now,” Miromanova said. “And two, I don’t know what’s going to be happening in the future.”
Looking to the past could give some indication, however.
During Trump’s first time he levied limited import taxes against China and on certain products, like washing machines. Economists at the National Bureau of Economic Research found those tariffs were passed on to consumers or absorbed by U.S. companies, and that U.S. producers responded to reduced import competition by hiking up prices.
This time around, President Trump implemented the bulk of tariffs in early April, but companies may not pay those tariffs right away because of how imports travel. Many consumer goods are loaded into massive shipping containers that are loaded onto cargo ships.
A container filled with goods and parts from China usually spends three to five weeks on the ocean before arriving in the U.S., according to economists at Apollo Global Management. U.S. businesses don’t pay the tariff to the government until the shipment hits the port of entry.
Economists noticed a surge in imports earlier this year as companies anticipated more tariffs. Now, West Coast ports are starting to report a decline in container volume coming into the U.S., with the expectation traffic will slow down even further over the coming weeks.
“Less containers are now coming on our vessels and this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Port of Tacoma Commissioner Dick Marzano said during a press conference Thursday. “It’s going to get worse unless we can change dramatically.”
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
