KQED's Forum Trump’s Tariff Policy Raising Prices of Coffee, Clothing and More
Aug 14, 2025
Neale Mahoney, a Stanford economist and former White House policy advisor, discusses the broader economic impacts of Trump’s tariff policies. Tracy Alloway, a financial journalist from Bloomberg, highlights how these tariffs are affecting consumer prices, from coffee to clothing. Bastian Schoell, owner of The Spanish Table, shares firsthand insights about the struggles faced by small importers due to rising costs. The conversation reveals the complex relationship between tariffs, inflation, and consumer spending habits.
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Tariff Impacts Have A Lag
- Tariff effects arrived slower than economists expected due to front‑loading, high margins, and weak consumer demand.
- Those buffers are waning and tariff impacts are beginning to show in prices and business decisions.
Small Fashion Brand Racing Boats Over Planning
- A clothing maker spent her spring season scrambling to find shipping and avoid tariffs instead of planning for winter inventory.
- She fears reduced product availability this Christmas because logistics consumed her capacity.
Tariffs Tax Inputs And Consumers
- About half of imports are intermediate inputs, so tariffs raise costs for U.S. producers and create inefficiencies.
- Tariffs on consumer goods act as a regressive tax hitting working and middle‑class households hardest.