Tariffs ‘start’: How Trump’s strategy increases back-to-school costs | Trump’s tariffs

The summer is over and as parents and children prepare for the new school year, their first lesson will be economics.

Most of Donald Trump’s tariffs Take effect In early August. We’re still waiting Handle China. But because school supplies are so reliant on imports, consumers have been eagerly awaiting how tariffs will affect the prices they see in stores.

one Poll It was found from the National Retail Federation (NRF) that parents started back to school earlier this year shopping earlier this year compared to last year, mainly due to concerns about tariffs, while 72% of parents expect higher prices this year.

The NRF estimates that the expected spending from new clothes and electronics to back-school shopping for pencils and paper totals $39.4 billion, the second highest after 2023.

It is not clear that Trump’s new tariffs will affect prices. The company has the right to raise prices, but has the risk of losing customers to competitors.

“There are a lot of things happening behind the scenes, like importers trying to renegotiate with foreign suppliers, they try to get foreign suppliers to absorb some of the fees, they try to absorb the costs themselves.”

At the beginning of summer, the goal Announce It will maintain prices for 20 “must-haves” in 2024, and the company hopes to maintain customer loyalty during the back-to-school shopping season.

But economists believe retailers will eventually have to pass costs. recent analyze According to Goldman Sachs, consumers paid 36% of the three-month tariff charges four months after setting taxation, accounting for 67% of the fees.

These increases are just beginning to appear in inflation data. Inflation has been rising since April after the spring decline, which has attracted the attention of U.S. Federal Reserve officials.

Tariffs “start to see consumer prices… [and] “We want to see more,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said in July. “We know from the survey that companies think they have all the intentions to attribute it to consumers.” ”

Of course, this runs contrary to the White House’s idea. Trump said tariffs either bring manufacturing back to the United States or help the country negotiate a better trade deal. Trump largely abandoned potential price increases, and although admitting that tariffs “will not be easy, the end result will be historic.”

For parents who are starting to go back to school shopping, Dickson recommends taking the time to compare prices between stores, as prices may vary between retailers.

“These individual prices will be different, which is why you are a parent and you can take a look and see how the prices are different there,” she said.