How much will China's tariffs cost consumers?

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Published  April 11, 2025 6:54pm EDT
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How much will China's tariffs cost consumers?

FOX 13's Aaron Mesmer reports.

The Brief

    • Businesses and customers in the Tampa Bay area are bracing for higher prices.
    • The total tariffs on China are actually 145%.

TAMPA - Customers and businesses in the Tampa Bay area are bracing for higher prices after the White House announced tariffs on China will remain in place.

The backstory:

President Trump's administration recently clarified that the total tariffs on China are actually 145 percent. China, meanwhile, raised its retaliatory tariff on imports from the U.S. to 125 percent.

Economic analysts report televisions, computers, video game consoles and smartphones are among the electronic items that will likely see price hikes in the coming months. Some experts believe consumers could see the prices of iPhones rise between $350 and more than $850.

By the numbers:

Reports also indicate car prices could increase $2,500-$20,000 per vehicle. Certain clothing items are expected to see an almost 50 percent increase.

"Anything we buy from China is going to go up," said USF Economics Professor Dr. Michael Snipes. "Anything that uses those raw materials is going to be more expensive. So that's going to be electronics is going to be a lot more expensive, textiles are going to a lot more expensive."

Chuck Fenech, who owns Big Redhead Vintage Toys in Tampa, mostly resells toys from the 1980's and 90's, but also has newer items manufactured by the three biggest toy companies in China.

"I do think that they will increase the pricing. I just don't think it'll be like a 60 percent to 50 percent [increase]," Fenech said. "We do order occasionally modern toys just to kind of fill the store space up, the empty spaces. We'll cut down on that considerably and try to focus more on the vintage again because we can control the price point and stuff like that."

Snipes said, because of the on-again off-again nature of the Trump Administration's tariffs, it's hard to predict when the majority of the price increases will happen. If these tariffs stay in place, however, he expects consumers to see costs go up in one to two months.

The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13 reporter Aaron Mesmer.

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