Some retailers are telling Americans to hurry up and buy items they need before tariffs raise prices next year, but financial experts say that’s bad advice.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to impose a 25% across-the-board tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% tariff on goods from China on the first day of his presidency. While campaigning, he floated a 60% tariff on goods imported from China and a 10% to 20% tariff on goods from other countries.
Economists have said consumers would shoulder those costs, igniting widespread panic that everything from iPhones to bicycles, refrigerators, couches and buttons would be more expensive next year. But financial advisers say that’s a poor way to spend your money. Instead of hoarding items you think might get hit with a tariff, they recommend you build stronger finances.
“Tune out the noise and focus on the economy of one: you and your priorities,” said Bobbi Rebell, certified financial planner and personal finance expert at BadCredit.org. “Don’t ever spend in panic mode.”
How should Americans prepare for the next Trump administration?
First, experts say, don’t make financial plans based on the prospect of tariffs. As Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell put it at a news conference Wednesday, “We have to let this play out.”
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The tariffs are theoretical at this point.
“We don’t know how big they’ll be,” Powell said. “We don’t know the…
