U.S. Faces Repercussions of Newly Imposed Tariffs

By: Nadia Commodore

America is in a frenzy as President Trump’s highly anticipated tariffs begin to take effect. 

Back in February, President Trump announced that he’d be implementing 25% taxes on Canadian and Mexican imports and a 10% tax on Chinese goods. CBS reported that since then, the president has put in place a 10% tariff on all American trading partners. This order took effect on April 5, 2025. 

AP News said that Trump also announced reciprocal taxes on American trading partners on a product-to-product basis. This means that any tax another country or territory has on our product will be imposed by the U.S. in the same way. These taxes, originally set to begin this past week, have been put on a 90-day pause according to a social media post from Trump.

CNBC reported that the main concern for American citizens is the trade war taking place between China and the States, as the U.S. has threatened a 145% tax on Chinese imports.

According to CNBC, Jamie Domin, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said on Wednesday that he believes the United States is barreling towards a recession. The stock market has seen great fluctuations with a four-day streak of declines only to slowly rise again on Wednesday. 

Alex Collier, an HU first-year journalism major with a minor in psychology, stated that she believed Trump initially had good intentions with the tariffs, but neglected thoughtful consideration of the execution.

 “The prices of things go up more and more,” said Collier, “especially on those in lower income brackets, and a lot of the jobs that tariffs were supposed to protect are now lost.”

Collier also shared that Trump's economic decisions could potentially ruin future relationships with the country’s closest trade partners. 

“Trump made the trade decisions very impulsively and when faced with negativity, he had a tantrum, ruining our economy even more. I think his approach not only alarmed some of the global allies we had as a put-together country before both of his presidencies, but it now makes it difficult for people of low income to live in a country where it’s already difficult,” she said. 

Similarly, Seven Anthony, an HU first-year in the five year MBA program, fears for the future of Americans who have been historically economically marginalized. 

“We’ve talked about it in our classes…I definitely think the business industry is gonna take a big hit, especially for the newer generation and minorities,” said Anthony. 

Photo courtesy of Alexander Grey for Unsplash