Among the reciprocal tariff levels Trump announced:
China: 34%
European Union: 20%
South Korea: 25%
India: 26%
Vietnam: 46%
Taiwan: 32%
Japan: 24%
Thailand: 36%
Switzerland: 31%
Indonesia: 32%
Malaysia: 24%
Cambodia: 49%
United Kingdom: 10%
Rest of the world: 10%
Imports from Cambodia: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/imports/cambodia
and Vietnam: https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/imports/vietnam
smh
I wonder how fast and much daily fashion will change. Like, no more knitted or crocheted items, or their resale value will go way up.
If their cost goes way up, that might make hand-made American items comparatively affordable, maybe for the first time in modern history. It’s (potentially) a good thing for a bad reason, I guess.
I doubt that, to be honest. The supplies to make the items will also go up in price, and the US simply doesn’t have the industrial power and cheap labor that other countries have to make them. GOP voters think that somehow it’ll make all things cheaper (which actually would be a bad thing, deflation isn’t a good sign for the economy), but the price of everything is about to skyrocket.
That’s not to mention that the few suppliers that are 100% US based would just crank up their prices anyway, because they can.
Personally, and not having much experience in economics, I think prices will skyrocket, people will stop buying things, and then that will cause huge amounts of deflation, bringing the US right into a deep recession. I mean, my partner and friends have already stopped spending as much, and that was before today. It’s only going to get worse.
Oh, I don’t mean on an industrial scale. Sorry for any confusion. I was thinking of small-scale artists who have crochet businesses. It might be easier to sell $30 plushies if all of the plushies from Vietnam (and other places known for cheap hand-made products) are now $50.
Fewer people in the US are going to want to spend that much on a plushy. Unemployment is going to rise under Trump. There will be increased costs for needs and less cash for wants. But we will probably have continued inequality, so if a small scale artist can sell to rich people, they may do well.
The tiny scale artists still have to buy supplies. And eat, and pay rent.
Don’t forget, this is a regressive tax, and small craft workers tend to be poor.
Their prices will go up as much. It may even be worse for them, in aggregate, even if selling more of their stuff.
Fair enough, yarn and notions will get more expensive. There’s also the issue of access to supplies in the first place just because JoAnn was a lot of people’s only option.
Ah, gotcha. It’ll be interesting (in a bad way, most likely) to see how this will affect those business.