HONOLULU (KHON2) — President Donald Trump’s next round of tariffs are set to kick in this Wednesday, April 9. Business owners are concerned, but a financial expert said there’s no need to panic and offers advice to help navigate the economic uncertainty.
“I started importing from Indonesia, women’s clothing, exotic birds, handicrafts, kites, you name it I’ve probably imported it,” said Mark Elwell, who has been in the import business for over 40 years.
In 1999 he started importing bamboo flooring from China but said he shifted gears in 2017 after the tariffs, put in place by President Trump during his first term, hurt his business. He’s been importing docks from China since, but with tariffs of 104% on goods from China set to take effect Wednesday he fears the worst.
“It’s going to put a lot of people out of business. They got to be prepared for that,” he explained. “A lot of small businesses, they really rely on bringing goods in. The public relies on you bringing goods in at an affordable price. and when you’re not able to do that, the public’s going to suffer.”
Elwell said he, like most other small businesses, can’t afford to absorb the additional costs and would have to pass that on to his customers in order to stay afloat.
“It’s not China that actually pays for the tariff, it’s the consumer that ultimately pays for the rise in the tariff,” Elwell said.
He’s worried it will have a trickle down effect, and lead to a recession. And he’s not alone. Some members of Congress have also expressed their concern that Trumps tariffs would not accomplish their intended goal.
According to the White House, tariffs are part of their plan to take back the country’s economic sovereignty, reprioritize U.S. manufacturing and address trade imbalances.
Financial expert Alan Akina said there’s no need to panic.
“I think there’s going to be some short term pain right now. There’s going to be some prices that will go up, who knows for how long, but I believe that other countries will hurt probably more than we are,” Akina explained.
When that happens, he said things will get better. Several countries have already reached out the Trump to negotiate. But negotiations don’t always work as intended. Should negotiations end up unsuccessful, Akina warns of some consequences.
“Now, the downside is, we’ll probably go into an inflation and who knows how long that could last,” Akina said.
For now Akina said consumers need to focus on their budget.
“Find ways to make more money and lower your expenses, and you should be good,” he said.