President Trump's tariff wars have jacked up the cost of some everyday items — but so have a whole bunch of other things.
For the past year, NPR has monitored prices on a (very large) cartful of products at a Walmart in Liberty, Georgia, checking their prices last August, last December, and this August. Some items did see massive price jumps amid Trump's trade wars, but it's not as simple as cause and effect, NPR found.
To fill its metaphorical cart, NPR says it "consulted the lists from 2018 of tariffs the White House imposed on imports from China," as well as Mexico and Canada, plus retaliatory tariffs from China back on the U.S. Topping that list in price hikes was Walmart-brand 32 oz. cod fillets, which saw a massive 66 percent price hike from $8.76 to $14.54. But that was a U.S.-based product, and Food Institute President Brian Todd said its price hike was more tied to low catch rates for the year. The 62.5 percent hike on a head of cabbage, from $.48 to $.78, was more attributable to bad weather, Todd added. Yet for the 35.5 percent price on a China-made retractable dog leash, from $9.88 to $13.37, and for hikes throughout the pet industry, tariffs are largely to blame.
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It's important to note that when instilling tariffs, "the Trump administration specifically targeted industrial materials and parts, rather than consumer products," NPR says That's not true of the next rounds of tariffs taking effect this month and in December, which will likely hit clothes and electronics. Find other price changes at NPR.
