Major American Retailers Warn that Americans May Soon See "Empty Store Shelves" Similar to COVID
The CEOs of some of the United States’ largest retailers, including Walmart, Target, and Home Depot, visited President Donald Trump at the White House this week, with a very stern warning: consumers could be seeing empty shelves in their stores soon, due to Trump’s tariffs, especially from goods imported from China, the country with the highest current tariffs.
This problem with the U.S. supply chain and imported goods is no longer a matter of editorial comment about what people “think” might happen “in the future,” as it is all starting to happen already, as we can see by what is currently happening at U.S. ports RIGHT NOW.
While Trump’s tariffs are headline news, and rightfully so, what few are reporting is that in the midst of this trade war, Trump’s Administration is deliberately weakening the U.S. dollar, so that U.S.-made goods will be more affordable to other countries, which they believe will help balance the U.S. trade deficits with most countries.
But that also makes imports more expensive, even without the tariffs.
I know this firsthand, as a business owner in the U.S. with an ecommerce business that sells high quality imported foods.
When the dollar weakens, it affects the exchange rates in local currencies. Since Trump took office, we have seen the dollar’s purchasing power decrease by about 10%.
My company is fortunate in that we do not import anything from China, but most other countries currently have a 10% tariff, and when you add in the 10% loss (so far!) on the U.S. dollar, that is a 20% increase in imported goods NOT from China.
A 20% inflation on basic goods imported into the U.S is very serious! Most Americans still do not fully realize what is about to happen to the economy.