Sacramento grocery market braces for impact of Trump's tariffs
SACRAMENTO — The new Trump administration tariffs are likely going to exacerbate what some are already calling California's affordability crisis, at least in the near term.
Prices will rise from tariffs across all sectors, from clothing to chemicals to food.
At Taylor's Market in Sacramento's Land Park neighborhood, they could be taking a direct hit from these tariffs because 50% of the food they sell is imported.
Jason Chapman, the market's general manager, has been bracing for these tariffs to hit his store shelves.
"Well, it will raise our costs for sure," Chapman said, "because we have to match it. Whatever they raise it to, we have to make a profit, so it's going to go up."
With labels showing France, Scotland, Japan, and more, Taylor's Market sells products from all across the world that are suddenly on the sweeping list of tariffs.
Sacramento's Diana Michel and her husband, Jose, say they will now be looking for labels on everything.
"You're going to have to make judgments on how much you buy and portion control," Diana Michel said.
"The shirt I'm wearing, it's KUHL, but it's made in Vietnam," Jose Michel said.
Ina Simonovska, a UC Davis professor of economics, is in France as these international tariffs take effect. She said that for Californians already living paycheck to paycheck, the tariffs will hit hard because wages have not been increasing with costs.
"Unfortunately, the real wage or the purchasing power of that paycheck of people will go down and this will mean directly higher food prices, gas prices," Simonovska said.
Simonovska said that because businesses don't adjust prices immediately, we will likely see these increases take effect by the end of the month.
According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, this round of tariffs will cost the average U.S. household $2,100 this year alone.
