Author of How to Prep When You’re Broke and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course
We’ve talked before about the pain of making the significant economic changes that the United States needs to prosper in the future. We’re in for a bumpy ride as consumers. But the good news is, we can anticipate some of these effects and prepare for them if we do it now, before the tariffs are in full effect on May 2. Prepping for the trade war should be number one on your list of concerns right now.
Please note that none of the following is an editorialization on the policies. It’s simply sharing the facts as I’ve seen them and discussing how to minimize the difficulties that this trade war may cause us personally.
It’s important to note that the tariffs are a negotiation point. Nothing is yet set in stone, so the numbers we talk about today may be totally different tomorrow.
President Trump has already put a 90-day hold on tariffs (aside from a reciprocal 10%) to countries that were formerly going to be affected by them. Many of those countries are willing to talk, so that there is time to negotiate a more equitable trade agreement that benefits everyone.
The one nation that has thus far refused to come to the table in any way is China.
The economic war with China
The whole thing is pretty complicated, so let’s look at a summary by Michael Snyder of The Economic Collapse Blog.
-The universal baseline 10 percent tariffs are still in effect.
-The additional reciprocal tariffs that were recently announced have only been delayed for 3 months to allow for negotiations to take place.
-The tariff rate on products that we import from China has now been raised to a whopping 125 percent.
-Other previously announced tariffs remain in place.
China responded by raising tariffs on American products from 34% to 84%.
Snyder continues:
In addition to hitting the Chinese with a tariff rate of 125 percent, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is warning that President Trump is also considering removing Chinese companies from our stock exchanges…
Can you imagine what would happen if Trump actually did this and then the Chinese retaliated by doing the same thing to U.S. companies?
It would be a bloodbath.
Our economy has been so deeply entangled with the Chinese economy for so many years, but now an economic death match between our two nations has begun.
Amazon has canceled orders for things like beach chairs, scooters, and air conditioners. After May 2, companies like Temu and Shein will no longer be able to use the handy De Minimus loophole to sell directly to American consumers, which will send the price of “fast fashion” items skyrocketing.
How it all affects us
The obvious way this affects us is that we will face higher prices for what’s available, and fewer choices will be available. If the prices are so outrageous that vendors like Amazon, Target, and WalMart are not making purchases, we’re going to be looking at some very limited store shelves in the not-so-distant future.
Think back to the days of Covid, when cargo ships were halted and our store shelves were greatly depleted. We faced store limits on things like toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and eggs, if you could even get these things at all. It was partly panic-driven – shoppers cleared out the stores in one crazy weekend. But after that, it took a long time for our shelves to become full again as the supply chain shuddered under the weight of the changes. Do you remember also the microchip miniapocalypse we faced during that time?
Even then, China had threatened to use the supply chain as a weapon against the United States and also hinted they could withhold essential pharmaceuticals and medical exports.
We could be looking at something similar in the future, and we can look to the not-so-distant past to prepare for it.
What items will be most affected by the trade war?
The best way to prepare for potential scarcity and skyrocketing prices is to purchase what you can now. Here are some of the things that may soon cost much more, if you can get them at all.
Electronics
We may be saying goodbye to the days of cheap TVs and pay-as-you-go cell phones. The price of your next iPhone could be doubled due to tariffs, and the same with your computers and electronic devices. If you have something that is soon to be on the fritz, now would be the time to replace or repair it if you can.
Household appliances
Not only do many of the appliances themselves come from China, but the ones made here often contain components manufactured there. During Covid, the wait times for replacing your refrigerator, washing machine, and air conditioner were absolutely insane. Repairing them was nearly as difficult, as parts were hard to come by too.
Automotive items
We could face shortages and expense on automotive parts, car radios, and vehicles themselves as many of these things are imported. If you’ve been putting off a pricey repair, you may want to get it done now, before you end up with an expensive paperweight in your driveway due to lack of parts or outrageous cost.
Alcohol
Tariffs on wine and spirits could cause us to see big price hikes on those items here in the US. Consider changing to American brands or prepare to pay far, far more.
Clothes and shoes
Nearly all the clothing and shoes sold at retailers like Walmart, Target, Old Navy, and the like are imported. That’s why the prices are comparably low to what we’d pay if they were made in the United States. Prepare to pay much much more for blue jeans, running shoes, and other wearable items. Stock up now for growing children and purchase a replacement for the items you wear out regularly.
Cleaning supplies
We may face higher prices for cleaning and laundry supplies. The nice thing is that we can make a lot of these items ourselves using simple household staples. (Go here for more information.)
Personal hygiene supplies
Many of our personal hygiene supplies like shampoo, conditioner, bodywash, disposable razors, deodorant, and more are imported and could become even pricier than they already are. Consider using the links highlighted above to buy in bulk now, while supplies are available.
Medication
This is the one I worry about the most. As I mentioned earlier, China has threatened before to withhold medical exports and we all realized how vulnerable we were during Covid, when we learned nearly all of our medications are made in other countries.
- Here’s an article about stocking up on prescription medication.
- Here’s a place you can purchase prescription medication online.
- Here’s a book about using herbal medicine if your pharmaceuticals are unavailable.
Keep a positive attitude.
One of the most important things to remember in times of economic strife is your mental well-being. Keep a positive attitude by focusing on what you have instead of on what you don’t. Be creative with workarounds. Learn to make or use different products than you are accustomed to.
Most importantly, remember that the things that truly matter most don’t come from China.
What are you doing to prepare for the trade wars? Are there certain items you are stocking up on? Are you planning to stop using certain imports? What is your plan to get through the economic rough spot we are facing soon?
Let’s discuss it in the comments section.
7 Responses
Regardless of the temporary hold on the tariffs, prices are already rising. I order about a third of my groceries through Azure Standard and this morning most of the items I regularly buy and rely on have gone up in price since I put them in my online cart two weeks ago.
I am working to limit the pain as much as possible by making what I can from scratch.
I’m grateful my milk goats have just come into milk so that’s one thing I don’t have to buy. I need to work on my cream separator so I can use the cream in coffee and make butter.
Our meat will be what we grow, this year it will be goat, lamb, turkey, chicken, and quail. I’ll miss beef and bacon, so will likely get some hamburger patties, and a couple packages of bacon- but the smaller animals are more economical to raise.
I’m also working to expand the garden and plant not just for myself but also for my livestock. Simply growing things like extra pumpkins, mammoth sunflowers, and Mangel beets will stretch my feed budget a little father.
I know how to make laundry soap and basic cleaners from cheaper ingredients and will shop at thrift shops for our clothing needs.
This will be an extremely difficult season for my small family because we already barely scrape by, but self sufficient skills will be what keeps us afloat.
Unfortunately, this reset is long overdue. We have been living with an unsustainable trade policy for a long time. Going through this will be painful, but it will only get worse if we don’t attack it now. We learned a lot about our supply chain weaknesses during COVID and now is the time to rip the bandaid off the wound so that it can heal
We have gutted the middle class over the last decade and many people are barely making ends meet. What was the latest poll finding? 63% of Americans could not absorb a $1000 emergency.
There is no doubt that the U.S. trade policies have been lopsided. There is no way that any logical person could look at it and not agree. But it hasn’t been just the trade policies, it has been things like foreign aid – which hopefully DOGE is rectifying. Yes, trade policies needed to be changed…drastically, but with that change there will be some hard times ahead until things normalize.
There are a lot of things we can do to try and lessen the impact of the tariffs – especially as preppers. That’s what this journey is all about. Trying to increase self-sufficiency. But can the average person out there make it through the hard times that we know are coming, or will there be riots/violence in the streets before this is over?
Also think of your pets! Flea control,pet carriers,catios,etc .are made overseas.So stock up if you can.
I’m having issues with getting shocks and cv axle replaced due to the repair shop staying busy.So I’m Uber and riding bicycle to work
The main thing I am doing to prep is posting on sites like this one that are talking about the tariffs. They are NOT a war, they are energy medicine for a desperately ill patient. Money is a kind of energy. Our trade imbalance is worst with China–and China knows all about energy medicine. If you use cold compresses and fans to reduce a fever, the patient would be crazy to drink hot cocoa and turn on the heater “to retaliate.” But what if the right medicine is given in way too high a DOSE? The patient gets violently ill or dies. Trump’s tariffs for China would KILL China. But this one is relatively easy to fix because Trump will work out a deal if China works WITH him–and that is easy because China would love American coal, and that is a lot of jobs that can be brought back very quickly. So much trade imbalance can be fixed with coal alone, that the tariff number drops automatically, and Trump can give China time to work on it with only that base 10% to start with.
The present imbalance has advantages for both nations–China industrialized in a little over a decade and is now a first world, middle class nation, while American got lots of goods at a price “that was a steal.” But now America’s manufacturing base is hollowed out and China stopped buying Treasuries years ago for fear the dollar would hyperinflate. Both nations will benefit by fixing this.
Agree- this is not war. The people in this country do not have to worry about their family members or children being cannon fodder in some shooting war. Put what’s going on into perspective.
We were definitely headed into a shooting war before.
If I had growing children, no matter the situation, I’d be in the resale shops. Not worth it to pay retail for kids’ clothing. Actually, I like shopping at resale and consignment shops for myself. One a person wears something ONE time, it is used.
I believe whatever “pain” we are about to endure is far less than what was coming without any intervention. 70 + countries are already in negotiations. China’s economy is a mess. It appears the entire world is lining up against China. We are their biggest customer and the rest of the world already gets what they want/need from China.
We will be ok.