Tariff Shopping Confusion

Speaker 1 I'm Christine Zier-Clissette.

Speaker 2 I'm Kyra Blackwell.

Speaker 3 I'm Rosie Guerin, and you're listening to The Wirecutter Show.

Speaker 5 This episode of The Wirecutter Show is called Tariff Shopping Confusion.

Speaker 3 Hi, it's Rosie, and today we're doing a quick bonus episode on the news story dominating the headlines, tariffs.

Speaker 3 Over the last few months, we've seen tariffs tariffs imposed on Mexico and Canada on certain products like cars. President Trump has also imposed a 10% tariff on imports from all countries.

Speaker 3 Hours after a raft of new, even higher tariffs went into effect on Wednesday, April 9th, the Trump administration changed course and paused them for 90 days.

Speaker 3 As of this recording, Only one of those tariffs remains in effect, a 145% tariff on China. But even that has changed in the last 24 hours.

Speaker 3 Those policies have left many Americans wondering how product prices will be affected stateside and what it will mean for us as individuals.

Speaker 1 There's a lot of uncertainty for companies that make products, for customers who buy products, and even for our journalists at Wire Cutter who review products.

Speaker 5 And the news is changing quickly and unpredictably.

Speaker 5 So we thought, what better moment to host Caitlin McGarry, senior editor covering tech here at WireCutter, who has done some excellent reporting on how to approach buying everyday goods and bigger ticket items right now, based on what we know with regards to these tariffs.

Speaker 2 That's right.

Speaker 4 Christine and I are going to talk with Caitlin about what's likely going to change, what you can do to prepare, and what you really shouldn't do. Here's a hint: no panic purchasing.

Speaker 4 We're going to take a quick break and then we'll be here with Caitlin on the other side.

Speaker 2 Be right back.

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Speaker 5 Welcome, Caitlin. Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 13 Thanks for having me.

Speaker 5 Caitlin, the new tariffs that President Trump is putting into effect have really dominated the news over the last few weeks.

Speaker 5 And it's admittedly really difficult to decipher what's actually happening when and what is really at stake.

Speaker 5 It doesn't help that the Trump administration has announced, implemented, and then paused or changed various tariffs over the last weeks. So Caitlin, I'm hoping you can tell us.

Speaker 5 What is actually being taxed at this point?

Speaker 13 Yeah, it's been a confusing few weeks, to be sure. So right now, there's a baseline 10% tariff on every country.
So imports coming into America from those countries will be taxed at 10%.

Speaker 13 And then the other higher tariffs that went into effect on Wednesday have been paused, but there's still the really high tariff on goods coming into America from China.

Speaker 13 So those tariffs apply to nearly all goods imported from those countries with a few exceptions like semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, crude oil, things like that.

Speaker 5 And just to clarify, there are still these higher taxes on some things from Canada and Mexico, right? Yes.

Speaker 13 Okay. Yeah.
There were tariffs that were implemented over the last couple of months on Canada, Mexico, and on things like cars, and those are still in effect.

Speaker 14 Okay.

Speaker 5 And how much should people expect prices to go up? For instance, will an iPhone made in China become 145% more expensive?

Speaker 13 No.

Speaker 13 I'm sure we've all seen the headlines about like, your iPhone will cost $3,000.

Speaker 13 And that obviously won't happen because I think Apple still wants to sell iPhones. So some of the bigger companies like Apple have high profit margins.

Speaker 13 So they can absorb some of that cost more easily without passing the full thing on to consumers.

Speaker 13 But companies who don't make a lot of money on their products, things like small businesses, they probably will have to pass on most of that to buyers. We probably won't see increases right away.

Speaker 13 We'll see prices go up with new product launches. When it comes to clothing, those prices will go up when, because clothing is seasonal.
So, when new stuff starts coming out, it'll just cost more.

Speaker 13 And then, same deal for like consumer electronics. So, when a new product comes out, it will just cost more than the previous version did.

Speaker 4 So, if you're shopping seasonally, like you want the new drop of the Nikes or whatever, that's going to cost you more.

Speaker 4 But if you need staples, you can expect those to pretty much stay the same for a little while.

Speaker 13 It depends on where the staples are made because now the tariff is just on China. That really high tariff is just on China.
All goods imported from China will cost more. So it depends.

Speaker 13 If your clothing is made in China, yes, it will cost more. A lot of shoe factories in particular are based in Southeast Asia.
So China, Vietnam, et cetera.

Speaker 13 A lot of consumer electronics are made in China. Like there's just no other place to make them right now.
So basically anything tech related will cost more.

Speaker 5 And a lot of materials and parts are made in China and shipped to the the United States to be made into other products, right? So those products will probably see an increase as well.

Speaker 13 Yeah. So it affects materials as well as like finished products.

Speaker 2 All right.

Speaker 5 And when should we really expect to see the prices rise? You said, you know, new product launches, but what about things that are sort of like more everyday products?

Speaker 1 Do you think it'll be kind of a slow creep or will we see spikes?

Speaker 13 I would expect a slow creep. Most companies have actually already been planning for tariffs because they've been talked about for, a few months now.

Speaker 13 So some of the experts I talked to said that companies have kind of been slowly raising prices over the last few months.

Speaker 13 So I think we're just going to see like a slow creep, except for with those new products launching, those will be like a pretty immediate spike.

Speaker 4 So this all sounds pretty scary and uncertain. And I can imagine people might get the urge to go out and just panic buy everything.
before prices shoot up.

Speaker 4 But how do you suggest people really think about this from a spending standpoint?

Speaker 13 Well, it's it's Wirecutter's stance that you should never run out and panic buy anything. And most things won't see an instant price increase.

Speaker 13 Like we were talking about, you know, there will be seasonal products and like brand new products. Those will probably see the price increases first and everything else will be a little more gradual.

Speaker 5 So Caitlin, what are the products you'd suggest people consider buying now before prices go up?

Speaker 13 Well, first, only buy something if you really, really need to.

Speaker 13 Like something is broken and you have to replace it or tech device that just like won't turn on anymore that's when you should think about replacing right now but our advice is the same as it always is if you have to buy it new get the highest quality product that you can afford so that it will last longer as i was saying consumer electronics that's a category that's almost certainly going to increase because so much of it is made in china so if you need a new laptop or a new phone you should probably think about buying it sooner rather than later and anything else made in china will also go up in price.

Speaker 4 So what are some of the products where we can take a wait and see approach then?

Speaker 13 Pretty much anything that's not made in China.

Speaker 2 So nothing.

Speaker 13 I know you'd be surprised how much stuff is imported from China, like so much furniture and textiles.

Speaker 13 It really runs the gamut.

Speaker 13 But if you don't need to replace something right away, I would strongly recommend waiting for deals. So we always see discounts on Memorial Day, Prime Day, Black Friday, things like that.

Speaker 13 And we're also always advocates for buying refurbished or used better for the environment. You can often find better prices.
I personally love Facebook Marketplace and my local buy nothing group.

Speaker 13 So you can really find ways to shop that will lessen the impact of tariffs on you.

Speaker 4 We're all big fans of buying refurbished and we love Facebook Marketplace, but I had a question just about deals.

Speaker 4 Won't the tariffs be impacting the amount of deals that we see on these big deal days, like Prime Day or Black Friday?

Speaker 13 Yeah. So I spoke with an analyst who told me that retailers just might be more hesitant to offer the kinds of discounts we've seen before.

Speaker 13 Or if the prices have gone up so much, the discounts you'll see might be the same like percentage wise, but like obviously won't be as cheap as you could get them like last year.

Speaker 5 This is all really great advice, but we also want to be clear that the news is going to change and it's going to probably continue shifting, right?

Speaker 13 Yes, absolutely. Minute by minute.

Speaker 13 So we're closely tracking the changing retail landscape as tariffs are implemented, as they're adjusted, as they're paused. And we're keeping track of prices too over the next few weeks and months.

Speaker 13 So if you have questions or you need help navigating like this really thorny product landscape right now, I definitely recommend emailing us or reaching out on social media and we can help.

Speaker 4 Caitlin McGarry, senior editor on the tech team, thank you so much for joining us today.

Speaker 13 Thanks for having me. Thanks, Caitlin.

Speaker 4 If you want to read more about Wirecutter's coverage on tariff-affected products, or if you want to keep up with the changing landscape, go to nytimes.com slash wirecutter.

Speaker 4 Or you can find a link in the show notes. The Times Newsroom, as well as our colleagues at Hard Fork and at the Daily, have excellent coverage as well.
That's it for us.

Speaker 4 Thank you so much for listening.

Speaker 4 The Wirecutter Show is executive produced by Rosie Guerin and produced by Abigail Keel. Engineering support from Maddie Mazziello and Nick Pittman.

Speaker 4 Original music by Dan Powell, Marian Lozano, Alicia But YouTube, and Diane Wong.

Speaker 4 Wirecutter's deputy publisher is Cliff Levy. Ben Fruman is Wirecutter's editor-in-chief.

Speaker 2 I'm Kyra Blackwell.

Speaker 9 I'm Christine Sear Clissette.

Speaker 3 And I'm Rosie Guerin.

Speaker 4 Thanks for listening.

Speaker 1 The Wirecutter Show is supported by Rocket Mortgage. Your home is an active investment, not a passive one.

Speaker 11 And with Rocket Mortgage, you can put your home equity to work right away. When you unlock your home equity, you unlock new doors for your family.

Speaker 10 Renovations, extensions, even buying your next property.

Speaker 7 Get started today with smarter tools and guidance from real mortgage experts.

Speaker 2 Find out how at rocketmortgage.com.

Speaker 10 RocketMortgage LLC, licensed in 50 states, nmlsconsumeraccess.org, 3030.