President Donald Trump recently announced a 50% tariff against all goods imported to the United States from Canada. Now, Canada says it will implement retaliatory tariffs starting September 8th.
Economists warn the price of items such as lumber, makeup, auto parts, alcohol, and hockey equipment could increase up to 50%.
There could also be an impact on the Illinois workforce.
According to the Canadian Embassy, more than 21,000 people in Cook County are employed by about 400 Canadian-owned businesses in the area. Cook County exports about $4 billion of goods to Canada every year, including automobiles, petroleum, and electrical equipment.
As tariffs on both sides drive up the cost for Canadians buying those locally made goods, economist Mark Witte with Northwestern University warns the fallout could impact local jobs.
“That’s gonna hurt incomes for a lot of people in Chicago, and the people they buy from will see less demand, so that’s another sort of aspect of this. It’s going to be very bad for our economy and very bad for our consumers,” said Witte.
Witte says consumers can ease the impact of this trade war on their wallets by stocking up on Canadian products now. That could include hockey equipment, digital cameras, natural honey, and smartphones.
You can find the full list of items the White House says will be impacted by tariffs by here.