LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – On Saturday, President Trump announced new 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico and Canada and 10% for goods from China. Energy imported from Canada, including oil, natural gas and electricity, will also be taxed at 10%.
The new tariffs go into effect on Tuesday.
READ MORE: Trump says Americans could feel ‘some pain’ from his new tariffs that are triggering a trade war
FOX5 spoke to a local economist about how Southern Nevada could feel the impact.
“This is basically a guacamole tax. The cost of avocados are going to go up,” said UNLV Associate Professor of Economics Nicholas Irwin. “90-some percent of our avocados come from Mexico. The price of those are going to go up.”
“The price of things like Modelo, Tequila, car parts, manufactured cars, anything, anything in the auto industry is price going to go up. I’ve seen some estimates that look at maybe $3000 more per car,” he added, “and then from Canada we get a lot of our grains from Canada, wheat, barley, oats, rye, things like that, but also beef. We get a lot of our beef from Alberta.”
Irwin says in Southern Nevada, we’ll see the most immediate impact at grocery stores and restaurants — and in the long term, car parts and raw materials, like lumber.
“We get a lot of our lumber from Canada. It is going to be difficult to build more houses than the houses that we need, especially here in Southern Nevada to deal with their housing affordability issues,” said Irwin. “And then gas and energy as well. That’s a slightly smaller tariff and we probably won’t see any higher gas prices locally, but if you have friends in Midwest, they probably will.”
Nationally, Irwin and others fear this move by President Trump could trigger a trade war with three of the country’s biggest trading partners — and continue to drive up prices for everyday goods in the U.S., depending on how long the tariffs last.
“Buy up some avocados now, because maybe by the time they ripen the prices will probably be much higher,” said Irwin.
Trump’s order also included a promise to escalate those tariffs if those other countries answered with their own tariffs against the U.S. — but that threat didn’t stop them.
Mexico’s president immediately ordered retaliatory tariffs, and Canada’s prime minister said he would put matching 25% tariffs on U.S. imports up to $155 billion.
As of Sunday afternoon, China had not imposed new tariffs on U.S. goods. However, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said they will take “necessary countermeasures.” The Ministry of Commerce also said a lawsuit will be filed with the World Trade Organization.
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