LOUISVILLE, Ky. — President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Saturday to impose tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China. An agreement with Mexico and Canada was reached on Monday to delay both countries’ tariffs.

What You Need To Know

  • President Donald Trump signed an executive order to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada on Saturday
  • Monday the tariffs were delayed for a month
 
  • Louisville’s Rainbow Blossom Natural Food Markets relies on Mexico to get a lot of the products sold at the store

  •  Tariffs on Mexico would most likely impact Rainbow Blossom

Even though tariffs in Mexico and Canada have been delayed, there is still a lot of uncertainty around the issue. The director for the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Kentucky, Michael Clark, explains what a tariff is.

“It’s just a tax on the ability to bring that good into the U.S. to be sold,” Clark said.

U.S. businesses, both large and small, depend on importing a number of goods from other countries.

“There’s definitely concerns about tariffs, but then on the other hand, at least for fresh produce, there’s not a whole lot that we can do in advance to prepare for that just because we can’t back stock a lot of fresh products so we kind of just have to take it as it comes,” said Brad Elliott, the operations manager at Rainbow Blossom Natural Food Markets.

Rainbow Blossom receives numerous products from Mexico, so tariffs imposed on Mexico could affect the store.

“If there’s price increases on something like avocados, we’re going to really do our best to suppress those prices, those retail prices and keep those at a level that makes sense to the consumer,” Elliott said.

The store may not be able to provide certain products to its customers if prices get too high.

“We might just say, like, ‘Hey, we don’t have avocados right now.’ For instance, we might say, ‘Tomatoes are so, so expensive, but we have them in the can for the time being,’” Elliott said.

Overall, U.S. residents will probably feel the impact of tariffs on their wallets, should the tariffs go into effect for Mexico and Canada.

“The impact is likely that if you impose tariffs on goods that are brought in from a foreign country, it will tend to increase prices for consumers,” Clark said.

Though a conversation is expected to occur with China, a 10% tariff on Chinese goods went into effect at midnight on Tuesday. The tariffs are a strategy from the Trump administration to deal with the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigration.

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