Trump tariff price hikes could start with food, clothing, cars and coffee

Americans will bear the brunt of President Donald Trump’s newest tariffs, with price increases kicking in almost immediately on cars, clothing, electronics and other everyday goods.

“These tariffs are going to raise prices for American people in a way that directly affects their everyday lives,” said Kimberly Clausing, a professor at UCLA Law and a former Treasury Department economist. “For consumers, this will be the biggest tax increase they’ve faced in 50 years, in the form of price increases.”

Economists say universal tariffs will lead to higher costs for virtually everything Americans buy.

Here are some areas where consumers may start to see higher prices first:

Coffee, shelf-stable groceries and beverages

Much of the fresh fruits and vegetables at U.S. supermarkets come from Mexico and Canada, which are not being hit with the latest round of tariffs. But shelf-stable items such as sugar, coffee, rice, prepared soups and nuts are likely to be among the first items to see price increases at the grocery store.

Each year, for example, about 95% of the olive oil consumed in the United States is imported, with much of it coming from Italy, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey.

The steepest price increases could begin with Americans’ morning coffee, almost all of which comes from overseas. At Graffeo, a San Francisco coffee roastery founded in 1935, daily deliveries of green coffee beans arrive from Colombia, Costa Rica and Papua New Guinea — all of which will soon face 10% tariffs.

“Once tariffs hit, we’ll feel it immediately — literally the next day,” owner Walter Haas said, adding that he’s already raised prices by 8% this year to offset rising costs. “Tariffs will directly impact coffee prices — and if they remain in place, those costs will be permanently baked into the price consumers pay.”

Dina DiCenso, who co-owns vegan cheese company Rind, makes artisanal products using cashews from India and Brazil. Her supplier, she said, has already warned of price increases of as much as 25% — a significant sum for DiCenso, who orders tens of thousands of pounds of cashews each year.

“I don’t know how much higher we can raise prices, but we won’t be open long if we have to cover the cost of these tariffs,” she said.

Even her U.S.-made products, which include a line of veggie-based cheeses made with American-grown ingredients, are facing policy-related challenges. The vegetable farmers she works with have been struggling to find workers to pick carrots, parsnips and bell peppers because of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, she said. Her latest shipment, which was supposed to arrive weeks ago, has been delayed indefinitely.

“Whether it’s international or domestic, the food industry is facing a lot of challenges,” she said. “Even if you’re making products here, things like fuel suddenly cost more. And if our delivery truck breaks down, guess what, the parts aren’t available or they’re more expensive to import. All of that affects us.”

Clothing and shoes

One of the biggest immediate impacts appears to be the shoe and clothing industry, which analysts say was blindsided by hefty tariffs of 46% on goods from Vietnam and 37% on imports from Bangladesh. Top retailers, particularly Nike, had in recent years shifted production away from China toward Vietnam and Bangladesh to avoid tariffs.

Clothes sold by fast-fashion retailers like H&M and Gap will also be heavily affected, as well as clothing sold on Amazon, Target and Walmart.

In addition, the Trump administration is closing a loophole that had allowed Chinese companies like Shein and Temu to sidestep tariffs on packages with less than $800 worth of products, as part of a “de minimis” exception. Under the new rules, those shipments from China will face tariffs of either 30% of their value or $25 per item, the White House said this week.

Those additional measures come on top of already-steep taxes on imports of apparel, especially on women’s items. Last year, almost all — 97% — of clothing sold in the U.S. came from abroad.

“To be clear, tariffs are taxes borne by the American companies that import the goods and the hardworking American families that buy those goods,” Steve Lamar, president of the American Apparel & Footwear Association, said in a statement Wednesday. “The average tariff on clothes, shoes, and accessories, necessities every American must buy, was already more than five times higher than on other U.S. imports.”

Cars

Car dealers, who generally have a month or two worth of vehicles in stock, say they expect vehicle prices to jump significantly by summertime. Popular family brands such as Toyota, Honda and Subaru — which have particularly lean inventory levels — are likely to be the first hit.

But just about every vehicle will eventually be affected. Roughly half of the cars sold in the U.S. last year were imported from abroad. But even those assembled domestically had at least some foreign-made parts. Price increases will vary, but analysts expect an average markup of about $6,000 per car.

“We’re going to start seeing prices rise almost immediately,” Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive, told The Washington Post. “Some of the most affordable vehicles — compact SUVs, for example — are made outside the country, so they’re going to be the most vulnerable.”

Electronics

Until Trump took office in January, Apple’s iPhones — nearly all of which are made in China — paid no import tariffs. Now, the company is facing a tariff of 54% on Chinese-imported iPhones. That could add roughly $250 or more to the cost of a $1,000 iPhone, though it’s not clear yet how much of the tariff costs would show up in consumer sticker prices, according to economists and industry analysts.

Many other home electronics, including TVs, computers, smartwatches and video game consoles, are also largely imported from China or other countries in Asia that were hit in the White House’s announcement Wednesday. Consumers are likely to pay more for those products in coming months, though the scale of price increases is unclear so far.

“President Trump’s sweeping global and ‘reciprocal’ tariffs are massive tax hikes on Americans,” said Gary Shapiro, chief executive of the Consumer Technology Association, an industry trade group whose members include Apple and Samsung.

Ed Brzytwa, CTA’s vice president of international trade, estimated that current retail inventories of consumer electronics in the U.S. could last for three to four months. That means tariffs would start to increase prices people pay for those products around the summer back-to-school shopping season and the holidays, he said.