Roy Cordato takes issue with President Trump’s protectionist tariffs. Who will pay?
There are several ways, direct and indirect, that American consumers will pay this tax. The first is the most obvious and direct. Like any excise tax, regardless of who legally is responsible for paying it, the result will be higher prices for consumers. In this case, families and commercial businesses buying LG and Samsung washing machines and companies installing solar panels will be affected.
But that’s just the beginning. More indirectly, not just the price of LG and Samsung machines can be expected to increase but, because the tariffs will reduce competition for washing machines generally, prices will rise throughout the industry and consumers of all brands of washing machines will take a hit to their wallet. As a result of the tariffs on solar panels, we can also expect to see an increase in the cost of electricity generated by the solar power and an increase in electric bills. This would be particularly true in a state like North Carolina where utilities are required to generate a minimum amount of electricity from solar power. So, not only will the cost of washing machines go up but so will the cost of running those machines.
Is this really putting America first, as the president says he wants to do? No.
