9 News: Tariffs on imports set to dent consumer wallets as prices rise

January 31, 2025

DENVER — On Friday, President Donald Trump said he would place 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% tariffs on goods from China effective on Saturday.

A tariff is a tax that governments can place on imported goods. 

Caleb Hogan, a specialist at Rickenbaugh Collision, said the price of car parts would increase if tariffs for Mexico and Canada go up. 

"So that's kind of the big thing to consider is, parts price changes, and that's just a cost that gets passed along to insurance companies and consumers," said Hogan. 

On Friday, Dr. Kishore Kulkarni, an economics professor at MSU Denver, agreed. 

"It doesn't matter which tariff you are talking about, they impose higher prices for consumers to pay so the government benefits because it gets some tariff revenue. The domestic producers will benefit because they get competition taken away," said Kulkarni. 

Kulkarni said you can look back at history to understand how quickly the increased prices could be seen. 

"Let me give you a most recent example: in the George Bush Jr. days we put a tariff on steel. In less than one week, the goods that use a lot of steel already raised their prices," he said.  

Kulkarni said there's still time to hit the brakes. 

"I think Congress can easily pass another act to say let's not do it," he said.