Many small businesses in 九游体育 Illinois will be impacted after President Trump implements tariffs on imported goods from China, Canada, and Mexico.
CARBONDALE, Ill. (WSIL)-- Many small businesses in 九游体育 Illinois will be impacted after President Trump implements tariffs on imported goods from China, Canada, and Mexico.
At The Neighborhood Co-op in Carbondale, shoppers pick up produce items they want to eat. Some of those products come from Mexico.聽
On Monday, President Trump announced the 25% tariff increase on imported goods would be paused for Canada and Mexico after starting negotiations for concerns about border security and drug trafficking.聽
However, the Co-op鈥檚 General Manager, Francis Murphy, still feels worried about how prices will change.
鈥淭hey're going to increase food prices for all consumers in the United States, and that's not a benefit to anyone,鈥� Murphy said.
Murphy says they don't make much money from the food item's price. He says most of the sales go to running the store.
鈥淚nevitably the costs are going to be passed down to the consumer in terms of higher prices for fruits and vegetables, grains, meats, poultry, and so on,鈥� Murphy said.
The store's produce manager Chris Neville says they have over a dozen imported items from Mexico in the produce section.
鈥淎bout 15 to 20 items right now. And some of the items are major items like berries, tomatoes, celery, and broccoli,鈥� Neville said.
Neville says they order from places where the items can grow to provide everyday favorites.
鈥淏ut in the middle of the winter, we're kind of dependent on Mexico for a lot of our stuff, and we're not actually going out during the winter. We're just buying what's available on the general market,鈥� Neville said.
Murphy says most grocery stores will have similar impacts from the imposed tariffs.
鈥淢exico is the largest supplier of fruits and vegetables in the United States, and Canada has significant exports of livestock, poultry, and grains in particular,鈥� Murphy says. 鈥淪o we're a food store. So that means all these tariffs are going to impact our business.鈥�
Scott Gilbert is an economics professor at SIU. He says consumers will feel the effects whether it's grocery shopping or buying personal items.
鈥淢exico, Canada, China. So that's a lot of trade and the amount of stuff that goes into just things that you use, and you don't realize perhaps how much of it is actually manufactured in another country,鈥� Gilbert said.
He says the length of time people will see these tariffs increases will depend on President Trump's plans and impending negotiations with the other countries involved.
鈥淲e may have a little bit of a short-term inflation problem, but I guess it depends on how one sees the strategy going here. If it really is a trade war, and it goes on for a year, it could be a huge problem for the economy,鈥� Gilbert said.
But at least while shopping for groceries, Neville says a good way to try and avoid higher prices is to shop for local foods in season.
