Caleigh Montoya, Staff Writer
Tariffs are a tax on imported and exported goods directly affecting our trade. Tariffs can protect a country’s domestic companies, increase profits, and get the upper hand politically on other countries. Tariffs also make the price of imported goods more expensive, deterring customers from purchasing those goods. In President Trump’s executive order “Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Imposes Tariffs on Imports from Canada, Mexico, and China”, he claims that he will be putting an extra 25% tariff on all products from Canada and Mexico and an extra 10% tariff on Chinese products. According to Trump, this order is meant to “hold Mexico, Canada, and China accountable to their promises of halting illegal immigration and stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country.”
Many believe this is not to be Trump’s true intention in raising these tariffs, but rather, his intention is to increase American profits and to get a head start, politically, from the other countries. The countries having these tariffs put on them are skeptical, causing anticipation for retaliation. In response, Mexico, Canada, and China can also place high tariffs on America’s goods. This could create economic conflict that would be hard to solve, and could worsen our international relations, such as a trade war.
Tariffs can impact us greatly as we are all consumers in this country. We should know why certain prices rise, where our products come from, and how our economy is interlinked with tariffs. We should also know that sometimes, tariffs can cause inflation, a loss of jobs, decreased economic growth, etc. A change in these tariffs founded on a political basis could change our economy and society immensely.