18 hours Ago By Kira Caspers • Times of San Diego
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By clicking sign up, you agree to our terms . The tariffs President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday on nearly all U.S.
trading partners is causing economic analysts to worry that the uncertainty of these actions will increase anxiety for San Diego workers and business owners. Trump said he was placing tariffs on dozens of nations that run trade surpluses with the U.S.
, while imposing a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries in response to what he called an economic emergency. Alan Gin , associate professor economics at the University of San Diego, said these actions are “drastic” and “unprecedented” and will affect all areas of the economy. “From countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh, we import things like clothes and shoes, so the price of clothes and shoes is going to be higher,” Gin said.
“From China, we import a lot of consumer electronics, for example, phones, computers, TVs, things like that, and so those prices are going to be higher.” Canada and Mexico will not face higher rates than the existing 25% taxes on imported autos, steel and aluminum. Gin said these will still be important areas to watch.
“A big area is going to be cars. We import a lot of cars from both Canada and Mexico, and so the 25% tariff on those are going to make those prices higher,” Gin said. “I’ve seen estimates where the price of a car could go up anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000 on average.
” Three areas of immediate impact in the region – the commercial land ports of entry in Southern California, with the busiest being Otay Mesa. The southeast San Diego County commercial port, which sees a wide range of imports, including vehicles and auto parts, electronics, medical instruments and produce, was recently expanded in January 2024. A post shared by San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce (@sdchamber) Otay Mesa processes over $13.
5 billion in exports and $37.4 billion in imports every year, while inspecting nearly 1 million commercial trucks, according to the U.S.
General Services Administration . Times of San Diego is devoted to producing timely, comprehensive news about San Diego County. Your donation helps keep our work free-to-read, funds reporters who cover local issues and allows us to write stories that hold public officials accountable.
Join the growing list of donors investing in our community's long-term future. Trump declared a national economic emergency to levy the tariffs and said he was acting to bring in hundreds of billions in new revenue to the U.S.
government and restore fairness to global trade. Analysts, though, are questioning whether the move will do more harm than good. The San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce , in a social media post, said, “Make no mistake about it: tariffs will significantly damage our region’s cross-border economy and the United States’ economy as a whole.
” Gin added that regardless of whether an individual business relies on imported goods, every level of industry is going to feel the effects of price increases. “Even a restaurant that doesn’t import food — doesn’t really use imported foods — might be impacted if people cut back on going out to eat because they have to pay more now for cars and clothes and consumer electronics.” Gin, who teaches graduate-level classes, says his students who are about to enter the job market are worried.
“We are in uncharted waters here,” he said. The 10% rate would be collected starting Saturday and the higher rates would be collected beginning April 9. The Associated Press contributed to this report .
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