Trump's tariff plans loom over the year's biggest electronics show
Tech companies big and small are offering bold visions of AI-backed products that could be headed into our everyday lives soon. Unless tariffs trip them up.
Tech companies big and small are offering bold visions of artificial intelligence-infused products that could be headed into our everyday lives soon. Unless tariffs trip them up.
That’s the message from the head of the Consumer Technology Association, which is holding its annual electronics show in Las Vegas less than two weeks before Donald Trump returns to the White House on a campaign promise to dramatically raise tariffs — also known as import duties or levies — on goods coming into the U.S. from abroad.
The president-elect has promised surcharges of at least 60% on products coming in from China, a 25% tariff on Mexican and Canadian imports, and blanket tariffs of 10% to 20% on goods from virtually every other country.
“The most beautiful word in the entire dictionary of words is the word ‘tariff,’” Trump said on the campaign trail, pledging to bring companies’ operations back to the U.S. from abroad and spur domestic manufacturing.
Economists, however, say the most likely outcome of higher tariffs would be price increases for consumers as companies that manufacture or source parts internationally pass along higher costs to buyers. Federal Reserve officials are also weighing concerns that Trump's trade policies could fuel inflation.
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