HONOLULU (KHON2) — Experts warn that consumers may feel the impacts of the coming tariffs. KHON2 learned that prices on everyday items could soon cost a lot more.
The chair of the House Consumer Protection & Commerce Committee said to get your wallets ready for tariffs. Rep. Scot Matayoshi said avocados that used to cost $1 might be more expensive soon.
“But now, it [would cost] $1.25 because of the 25% tariff. So the store is going to just charge us a $1.25 instead. The stores may take some kind of haircut on it to try to absorb some of that cost. Grocery stores are very, the margin of profit is very small for them,” Matayoshi said.
The price could be passed on to consumers if tariffs stay in place long-term, the Retail Merchants of Hawaii said, and being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean does not help Hawaii either.
“A majority of our things are going to be impacted. You are going to see a price increase going on. It might not be today, but with the next shipments coming in or the next orders that they have where prices go up, all of the wholesalers and the retailers are going to pass that on to the customers,” said Retail Merchants of Hawaii President Tina Yamaki.
Matayoshi said a raise in prices is not his number one concern.
“Biggest fear, though, is that these prices are going to go up through tariffs and they’re not going to come back down even if the tariffs are lifted later. I’m afraid that when prices go up, it’s very hard for them to drop back down,” he said.
KHON2 asked Yamaki if local retailers could benefit by filling the gap.
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“Unfortunately, Hawaii doesn’t have a lot of manufactures. We don’t manufacture on paper and steel and things like that. Those things have to be imported in. So it’s a little harder for us to do things and everything needs to be shipped to Hawaii too,” Yamaki said. “We don’t know how long this is going to go on. We know the start date, there’s no ending date. It could go on for weeks, months, years.”