THE NEWS

New tariffs set in place by the Trump Administration have thrown a curveball at global trade across countries. When President Donald Trump won the election and took office on Jan. 20, Trump began imposing new tariffs regarding imports from Mexico, the European Union, and Canada and China. The new tariffs that Trump has imposed increase tax on imports as far as 25 percent from all three areas, including a 10 percent increase on China’s imports and a 10 percent tariff reduction for Canada on energy resources, according to the official Tax Foundation online resource. 

These tariff changes will greatly affect our food and our economy: Mexico is a large contributor to American produce, importing vegetables such as avocados, bell peppers, cucumbers, brussel sprouts, and bananas; Canada is a huge imported source for energy resources such as lumber, oil, machinery, distillation products, and electrical equipment; The European Union is a big importing source regarding vehicles and vehicle parts, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. 

These changes will severely affect our economy due to prices

 already being high, and now they have risen even more. People can expect higher prices, pricey groceries, and expensive resources.

TARIFF SUMMARY

On Feb. 1, Trump signed three executive orders to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China using the authority of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). These tariffs are now official as of Mar. 4. These new tariffs that are set in place, however, will not be the only ones, according to the official White House online resource; Trump has threatened to add more universal tariffs rather than country specific during his second term in office. According to the Tax Foundation, President Trump has also signed a presidential memorandum on Feb. 13 to develop a plan for increasing U.S. tariffs in response to other countries’ tariffs, tax policies, and any other policies including exchange rates and unfair practices. These tariffs will make it harder for low-income families, considering that everything in the U.S. is already expensive. Food will be even more expensive than it already is, and energy resources won’t be any cheaper.

BEARCAT REACTIONS

However, how does this affect Bearcats across campus?

“I don’t think Trump will reconsider his tariffs; he’s not going to because he doesn’t really care, the way he speaks and the things he does is basically all for show. People hype him up and he abuses his power to do ridiculous things that make him seem tough, he’s not being logical or doing things for the people in need,” junior Xitlali Bravo stated. Bravo believes that Trump is greedy with his power, only doing what he sees fit and not taking into consideration the effects of his choices. 

However the Tariffs don’t just affect the U.S.. “Everyone is affected by these things. Just because we have a global economy, we’re the ones who kind of frame it. So if things raise prices here in America, it’s gonna raise prices everywhere else,” senior Makhi Jones said. Jones believes that America is one of the central economies, and once something changes to that economy, it will affect the global economy. Now that food will be even   more expensive, resources will be the exact opposite of cheap, the prices in the machine industry will skyrocket, and the economy will be at an all-time high.