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Price Gougers Are Exploiting Trump’s Tariffs
(jacobin.com)
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this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2025
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I guess if you look at the track record of how tariffs have played out in the past, there has tended not to be a lot of price relief in going with domestic producers.
Take something like aluminum. While the US does have a domestic industry, it couldn't possibly meet demand in the short term at least. So industries hoping to source aluminum may initially flock to the domestic product, causing a run on it that raises prices. At the end of the day, they'll wind up paying something close to what the imported aluminum costs. This is the new price of aluminum. Live with it.
In the long term, the domestic industry may grow to the point that it displaces the imports. Will that lead to price relief? Again, uncertain. There are reasons why certain parts of the world produce much of the world supply of X, and cost of production is one of them. Also, counter-tariffs may reduce the growth potential of a domestic industry, leading to less investment.
It's not just the US of course. Everyone everywhere will be paying more for everything. Tariffs just suck.
Don't discount good old fashion price gouging either. Even if you could keep up with demand and keep your prices way under the tariffed foreign goods, why would you? If you are the only domestic alternative, bump your prices to just under your competitors.
Willing buyer willing seller, it is just business. It is not extortion, we have choice to not buy, we can plant and grow our own food.
If it's a luxury, sure. If it's a necessity, it's extortion.
Tariffs have a place in growing and protecting industry, but it has to be targeted. These sweeping country wide tariffs on all products are economical suicide
That's there idea, but the on-again-off-again tariffs policy creates such an uncertainty and lack of customer demand nobody wants to invest.
How exactly will somebody in, for example, the EU, pay more if the US are putting high tariffs on imported Aluminium?
Absolutelly, behind the tariff wall (i.e. inside the US), imported Aluminium will be more expensive (since there the imported stuff costs original price + tariff and the local stuff will tend to rise towards than value), but outside, people are still paying for it tariff free (so the original price with no extras). In fact, it's quite possible prices outside the US will go down for some things were, seeing reduced demand from the US for their product due to US Tariffs, Producers lower prices to try and attract more customers outside the US.
The only things that would go up for that example EU customer from US Tariffs would be US-made products and services hit by EU counter-Tariffs and those represent a small fraction of what people in the EU buy, whilst, because of the "against everybody" way Trump raised Tariffs, US consumers will see price rises on everything imported, not just stuff from a single country.
The main impact of US Tariffs outside the US is not making purchasers pay more for stuff (since those outside do not pay that tariff), it's making companies in areas where there was a lot of exporting to the US sell less because there is less demand from the US (which either hits them directly if they were exporting to the US or indirectly if their competitiors were and are now forced to try and sell more in other markets hence competing harder with them).