The Trump tariffs are creating an unprecedented rumble in the financial world of nations. Already there is talk of recession, inflation and sweeping job losses.
A recent analysis by the Yale Budget Lab says that tariffs could cost the average American household an additional $1,600 to $2,000 a year, according to a report in the American media.
Friends and foes alike of America are on the same page when they talk of slapping countermeasures.
Britain has already chalked out a mammoth, over 400-page list of American goods they plan to tax, that includes guitars and jeans.
Which means certain things that are dear to many people are not going to be near them anymore.
Target CEO Brian Cornell told CNBC that consumers could see imminent price increases on produce items such as strawberries and avocados.
The US tariffs would amount to the highest trade barriers in more than a century: a 10% baseline tariff on all imports and higher targeted duties on dozens of countries.
That could jack up the price for US shoppers of everything from running shoes to Apple’s iPhone.
Apple what? Yes, sir, you heard right. The iPhone, a leading status symbol worldwide and a must-have accessory for millions, nay billions, across the globe. Now an i-Phone could cost nearly $2,300 if Apple passes the costs on to consumers, based on projections from Rosenblatt Securities, a New York-based institutional brokerage firm. That means a whopping Dhs8,447!
Now, who would want that? Why would the average professional, particularly the budget-conscious, fork out over Dhs8,000 dirhams for a device that other companies could price far less unless he is a self-confessed gadget geek?
Will it be, forever, as the song goes, ‘Bye bye happiness, Hello loneliness, I think I’m gonna cry?’ Your guess is as good as mine.
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