by Daisy Luther, The Organic Prepper:
We’ve talked before about the pain of making the significant economic changes that the United States needs to prosper in the future. We’re in for a bumpy ride as consumers. But the good news is, we can anticipate some of these effects and prepare for them if we do it now, before the tariffs are in full effect on May 2. Prepping for the trade war should be number one on your list of concerns right now.
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Please note that none of the following is an editorialization on the policies. It’s simply sharing the facts as I’ve seen them and discussing how to minimize the difficulties that this trade war may cause us personally.
It’s important to note that the tariffs are a negotiation point. Nothing is yet set in stone, so the numbers we talk about today may be totally different tomorrow.
President Trump has already put a 90-day hold on tariffs (aside from a reciprocal 10%) to countries that were formerly going to be affected by them. Many of those countries are willing to talk, so that there is time to negotiate a more equitable trade agreement that benefits everyone.
The one nation that has thus far refused to come to the table in any way is China.
The economic war with China
The whole thing is pretty complicated, so let’s look at a summary by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse Blog.
-The universal baseline 10 percent tariffs are still in effect.
-The additional reciprocal tariffs that were recently announced have only been delayed for 3 months to allow for negotiations to take place.
-The tariff rate on products that we import from China has now been raised to a whopping 125 percent.
-Other previously announced tariffs remain in place.
China responded by raising tariffs on American products from 34% to 84%.
Snyder continues:
In addition to hitting the Chinese with a tariff rate of 125 percent, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is warning that President Trump is also considering removing Chinese companies from our stock exchanges…
Can you imagine what would happen if Trump actually did this and then the Chinese retaliated by doing the same thing to U.S. companies?
It would be a bloodbath.
Our economy has been so deeply entangled with the Chinese economy for so many years, but now an economic death match between our two nations has begun.
Amazon has canceled orders for things like beach chairs, scooters, and air conditioners. After May 2, companies like Temu and Shein will no longer be able to use the handy De Minimus loophole to sell directly to American consumers, which will send the price of “fast fashion” items skyrocketing.
How it all affects us
The obvious way this affects us is that we will face higher prices for what’s available, and fewer choices will be available. If the prices are so outrageous that vendors like Amazon, Target, and WalMart are not making purchases, we’re going to be looking at some very limited store shelves in the not-so-distant future.
Think back to the days of Covid, when cargo ships were halted and our store shelves were greatly depleted. We faced store limits on things like toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and eggs, if you could even get these things at all. It was partly panic-driven – shoppers cleared out the stores in one crazy weekend. But after that, it took a long time for our shelves to become full again as the supply chain shuddered under the weight of the changes. Do you remember also the microchip miniapocalypse we faced during that time?
Even then, China had threatened to use the supply chain as a weapon against the United States and also hinted they could withhold essential pharmaceuticals and medical exports.
We could be looking at something similar in the future, and we can look to the not-so-distant past to prepare for it.
What items will be most affected by the trade war?
The best way to prepare for potential scarcity and skyrocketing prices is to purchase what you can now. Here are some of the things that may soon cost much more, if you can get them at all.
Electronics
We may be saying goodbye to the days of cheap TVs and pay-as-you-go cell phones. The price of your next iPhone could be doubled due to tariffs, and the same with your computers and electronic devices. If you have something that is soon to be on the fritz, now would be the time to replace or repair it if you can.
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