SALT LAKE CITY — Utah experts warn that the tariffs President Donald Trump is threatening to bring against countries like Canada and China will directly affect local businesses, and in-turn Utah consumers.
“[Tariffs are] just a broad tax on all Americans,” said Jonathan Freedman, president and CEO of World Trade Center Utah.
Related: University of Utah economic professor explains goal of tariffs
Freedman explained, for example, that if a Utah business manufactures a good in a country with a 25% tariff, the Utah business will have to pay 25% more to bring that product back into the United States. And he said if the company has to pay that bill up front, it’ll likely charge consumers 25% more for that product.
“Because [tariffs] make everything more expensive, it naturally reduces our buying power,” Freedman told KSL NewsRadio. “I think that it will hurt overall orders to [countries with tariffs imposed from the U.S.]”
On the plus side, Freedman noted that …