US Tariffs, Sigh!

[Greeny]

We are a Canadian business and import into the US and buy from the US. This is both directly and indirectly through customers, distributors and suppliers.

How are Canadian and US businesses handling the new challenges?

I suppose we can add the additional Chinese tariffs into the thread as well.

I'm sure this will become slightly politically charged but this is not the goal of this thread. I'm hoping for a discussion that provides pragmatic and practical observations.


James

I'm in Australia and we cop an absolute hiding for freight from the USA. Delivery cost more than the ink we buy! It's an absolute joke! It more than triples the price by the time we convert to the Australian Dollar (Nearly $400 dollars for Roland 440ml Ink cartridge (it is a special fluro mix that can't be bought from general suppliers).

 

[John Miller]

Gino, have you tried RED Brest? A bit more$$ but far superior. And if you like their standard fair, there is a special reserve. I recommend not trying it, too expensive and too hard to resist.

 

[John Miller]

Looks like year to date the US has brought in 100 billion in tariffs. Did ya'll feel it? Year end prediction is 300 billion. No inflation, no recession.

Yes dear, and that money was paid by us. What's inflating is the amount of money we have to pay to be in business & what's receding is the money that stays in our pockets. I know you love the man but jeez, open your eyes.

 

[John Miller]

Yes, I do think he does respect women.

He doesn't even respect men. He only respects $$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[Geneva Olson]

In Canada we have a program called "TFW" (temporary foreign workers). It allows company owners to bring in foreigners to do jobs we don't want to do... If they can't find local workers to do them. So all the fast food places ... Farms, all back breaking labor jobs are held by people with a TFW permit.

I'm sure deporting illegals will open up a lot of jobs that no American wants to do, and it'll cause a shortage for awhile.... But there are ways around it. I hate the TFW program... But I'd much rather a TFW worker who's over here legallyhavee a job than an illegal who you know nothing about.

There's no doubt there's millions of jobs Americans can't / don't want to fill.... But there are other ways to fix that issue the. Turning a blind eye to law breakers .

Wouldnt you know it, Trump has introduced a similar idea for the migrant workers we get here in Texas, Florida and California.

 

[Geneva Olson]

Yes dear, and that money was paid by us. What's inflating is the amount of money we have to pay to be in business & what's receding is the money that stays in our pockets. I know you love the man but jeez, open your eyes.

HOW? We have no inflation and no recession. Prices have steadily gone down. So where exactly are we paying the tariffs? BTW: we had a SURPLUS of 26 billion in the month of June.

 

[guillermo]

Yes dear, and that money was paid by us. What's inflating is the amount of money we have to pay to be in business & what's receding is the money that stays in our pockets. I know you love the man but jeez, open your eyes.

same in here, I have a coworker that is very happy saying that, 100 billion in tariffs, I said great..... and I asked, where that money is coming from?, he says, from importers, yes, but now tell me who will pay that money back to importers?, no answer, I replied, WE will have to pay for those billions of dollars, he asked how?, I said on everyday things that we buy.... on one saturday, I went to Costco, and wanted to buy almonds, $9.99 a 3 pound bag, I said, I will but it next week, next week, it was already at $12.99......

 

[guillermo]

HOW? We have no inflation and no recession. Prices have steadily gone down. So where exactly are we paying the tariffs? BTW: we had a SURPLUS of 26 billion in the month of June.

surplus of 26 billions? that is a lot of money, where you think this money will go? to Israel?

My friend is working 12 hours, 7 days a week producing parts for missiles we are going into something big.

you said, no inflation, no recession, and prices have gone down, can you tell me what items the price have gone down? because, what I buy, is about 3 to 5 percent every quarter.

 

[MikePro]

price aside, almonds always taste better when picked & packaged by slave labor.
still interesting that gas is still twice the price in California than anywhere else in the US but tariffs baaaad. we get it.

 

[Geneva Olson]

surplus of 26 billions? that is a lot of money, where you think this money will go? to Israel?

My friend is working 12 hours, 7 days a week producing parts for missiles we are going into something big.

He's producing parts for missiles because we are strengthening our military. Imagine that, a super power actually being backed by weapons.

 

[RabidOne]

I'd say its even more insidious than our pensions... The current "Lieberal" ( who was elected on his election platform of scary "Trump" Prime Minster Mark Carney who was Trudeaus economic adviser, so in effect.

While he was still acting as Governor of the bank of England, Mark Carney sold off ALL of Canada's gold reserve, is planning to ban all ICE vehicles by 2030, implements totalitarian speech laws.

Mark Carney Is an admirer of Marxism, a strident proponent of "NET ZERO" he wants to build oil pipelines only if there's "Decarbonised Oil" flowing through them!
Trump just slapped more tariffs on Canadian industries and what does Mark Carney do? He dissolves parliament and all of the legislators are on a two month summer vacation!

No Trade deal nothing bumpkiss - God help us! We laid off two people before Christmas slow but steady here but its precarious. I know of others in the graphics industry that are hurting and they have laid off workers as well.

Why would you bother to post something that anyone could easily disprove with a quick search?

Posts falsely claim Carney sold off Canadian gold to U.K., confuse reserves with mineral exports

In April, multiple social media users claimed Liberal Leader Mark Carney sold all of Canada's gold reserves during his tenure as governor of the Bank of Canada, or that he

www.thecanadianpressnews.ca

 

[ikarasu]

Do you guys feel like prices are down?

Nintendo switch jacked up their price by 20% due to tarrifs.... And Canada got hit with it as well. Same with automobiles.... Haven't those prices gone way up, past what normal inflation would push it up?

Seems like most items on Amazon / Walmart are higher.

I haven't been to USA in 2-3 months, so maybe it changed. But the last time I was there I didn't buy anything because the cost in usd was higher than the cost in cad.... Let alone after the exchange rate. Shopping in USA we used to save 20-30%.... For the past year, it has cost more to buy from USA because all the pricing has skyrocketed.... So we only buy the products we can't get in Canada.


I think that's the real reason Canadian tourism is down .... It feels like while Canada got hit with a high inflation as well, USA got it even worst, so shopping in USA makes no sense.

If course I only know the western states, so maybe it's different out east? A quick Google search says the cost of everything is rising quite a bit... It does say gas has gone down in the past year, so that's good! But how about groceries? Not eggs.... But general groceries.

 

[Boudica]

Do you guys feel like prices are down?

Nintendo switch jacked up their price by 20% due to tarrifs.... And Canada got hit with it as well. Same with automobiles.... Haven't those prices gone way up, past what normal inflation would push it up?

Seems like most items on Amazon / Walmart are higher.

I haven't been to USA in 2-3 months, so maybe it changed. But the last time I was there I didn't buy anything because the cost in usd was higher than the cost in cad.... Let alone after the exchange rate. Shopping in USA we used to save 20-30%.... For the past year, it has cost more to buy from USA because all the pricing has skyrocketed.... So we only buy the products we can't get in Canada.


I think that's the real reason Canadian tourism is down .... It feels like while Canada got hit with a high inflation as well, USA got it even worst, so shopping in USA makes no sense.

If course I only know the western states, so maybe it's different out east? A quick Google search says the cost of everything is rising quite a bit... It does say gas has gone down in the past year, so that's good! But how about groceries? Not eggs.... But general groceries.

Everything costs more in my experience. EVERYTHING. I hate going to the grocery store anymore. I buy what I need - stick to the staples, I don't really pay that much attention to the price, but when I get to the checkout It's a lot more than I expect, or what it used to be.
I've even just stopped buying my impulse purchases altogether, either at the grocery store or online like through Amazon. Too expensive, so I find I don't need it that bad. Necessities only. I'll have to start thrifting second hand again for clothing. (not a bad thing, just less convenient. lol)

 

[Geneva Olson]

My grocery bill has gone way down. There's just two of us now. During the biden admin, I was paying $200 for 2 of us for groceries. Now I spend about $100. And that's buying the "crunchy" stuff. (one of my daughters calls me crunchy because I buy all natural, organic).
I was out shopping at the outlet mall yesterday with my family. Everything we bought was on sale. I'm not seeing any price increases. There were some great deals at coach, columbia.
The only price increase I really see in the business is that Grimco bought out GSG. Grimco always charged more for some substrates than GSG so I'm having to deal with that.

 

[BigNate]

My grocery bill has gone way down. There's just two of us now. ...

According to every search engine I have asked "are average prices for groceries in Webster Texas trending up or down?", prices in Webster Texas are going up..... of the 5 sources so far (You being 1, Bing, Google, Grok, and Yahoo....), YOU are the only one saying prices are going down.... that initially leads me to think there may be some observational bias to that data point....

I really hope prices will be going down... but right now a Big Mac costs twice what it did 5 years ago - at least around here. I am not sure how you are measuring or even defining "INFLATION" but when my dollar buys less and less daily, or purchasing the exact same items costs more and more, it absolutely looks and feels like what I learned in school is called "INFLATION"

 

[Geneva Olson]

According to every search engine I have asked "are average prices for groceries in Webster Texas trending up or down?", prices in Webster Texas are going up..... of the 5 sources so far (You being 1, Bing, Google, Grok, and Yahoo....), YOU are the only one saying prices are going down.... that initially leads me to think there may be some observational bias to that data point....

I really hope prices will be going down... but right now a Big Mac costs twice what it did 5 years ago - at least around here. I am not sure how you are measuring or even defining "INFLATION" but when my dollar buys less and less daily, or purchasing the exact same items costs more and more, it absolutely looks and feels like what I learned in school is called "INFLATION"

how much did your big mac cost a year ago?

I don't live in webster, tx. (i live 55 miles away from my shop)
that's where my shop is. now ask, "are average prices for groceries trending up or down in the US".

 

[BigNate]

how much did your big mac cost a year ago?

I don't live in webster, tx. (i live 55 miles away from my shop)
that's where my shop is. now ask, "are average prices for groceries trending up or down in the US".

well, a year ago I could get a double cheeseburger, 4 nuggets, tiny fries and tiny soda for $5 before tax... now it is $6 or more before tax... Every menu item has gone up in the past year, mostly in the past 6 months...

I raise all our beef, chicken, eggs, and pork - our shopping list is pretty consistent for items. I have to budget at least 20% more to shop now than I did in 2023 (that budget includes travel to the store, gas has gone up...but nowhere near as much as groceries have.)

 

[BigNate]

how much did your big mac cost a year ago?

I don't live in webster, tx. (i live 55 miles away from my shop)
that's where my shop is. now ask, "are average prices for groceries trending up or down in the US".

Okay, according to Google: (sorry, copy and paste... you could have done this too...):
"In the USA, average prices, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), are trending upward, but at a slower pace than in the recent past. While the overall inflation rate is down significantly from its recent highs, it's still above historical averages, and many consumers are still experiencing the effects of higher prices."

 

[BigNate]

My grocery bill has gone way down. There's just two of us now. During the biden admin, I was paying $200 for 2 of us for groceries. Now I spend about $100. And that's buying the "crunchy" stuff. (one of my daughters calls me crunchy because I buy all natural, organic).
I was out shopping at the outlet mall yesterday with my family. Everything we bought was on sale. I'm not seeing any price increases. There were some great deals at coach, columbia.
The only price increase I really see in the business is that Grimco bought out GSG. Grimco always charged more for some substrates than GSG so I'm having to deal with that.

Please feel free to post some receipts for same items from 1-2 years ago as well as a current one.

 

[Boudica]

Looks like it varies quite a bit from State to State.

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/finance/cost-of-groceries-by-state.html