Now that Donald Trump’s new tariffs against China are in effect, the question is what will this do to prices in the US. Here’s an article that lists what will probably increase in price the most:
TVs
Homes and home renovations
Washing machines
Solar panels
Cars
Beer
Cosmetics
Electronics
Clothing
People have been complaining that the cost of iPhones will go up, and they almost certainly will, but the item on this list that surprised me is “beer”. I’m not sure why tariffs against China will impact the cost of beer, but if this is true and it happens before the midterms, the GOP is definitely screwed.
American companies have already announced that the tariffs would likely force them to raise prices, including Walmart, Gap, Coca-Cola and General Motors.
4 Comments
So wages are stagnant, expenses will rise, and the federal deficit is rising. Federal programs will be cut. I’ve already adjusted my retirement account to brace for another crash like Bush’s crash in 2008. Everyone knows the economy is driven by consumer spending.
So glad to have you back. Thank you!
Beer increases will be due to the tariffs on metal, which impact both canning operations and kegs.
Anheuser Busch is the largest importer of rice in the world, by a wide margin. I suspect Miller-Coors is up there too, but not as certain about them.
Traditional beer, and most craft beer, is brewed with barley, with some styles adding wheat or rye. Budweiser, and I suspect most of their direct competitors, use rice instead because it is cheaper and relatively neutral flavored. The really cheap stuff (e.g. Keystone and its direct competitors) use corn, which is even cheaper but noticeably affects the flavor.
Presumably, if the largest breweries best selling beers cost more to produce, they’ll want to preserve the price differentiation across their other brands to prevent either their premium or their cheaper brands from taking over too much of the market.
Not to mention the effects of climate change on poor Joe Sixpack’s beer budget. Which Trump is also not helping. https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/outlook/2018/10/23/our-research-found-that-climate-change-could-cause-beer-shortage-heres-why/
M
Of course, he could shoot someone right in the can and not lose any votes!