CHICAGO (WLS) — President Donald Trump is rolling out new tariffs on a wide range of products, from household goods to heavy trucks to pharmaceuticals, starting Oct. 1.
The White House announced brand name drugs will be subject to a 100% tariff. Trump also imposed a 25% tariff on imported heavy trucks, and there’s a 50% tariff on imported kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities and a 30% tariff on upholstered furniture.
According to U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics, furniture prices are already up nearly 5% from last year.
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With people across the Chicago area already dealing with high food and gas prices, President Trump is slapping new tariffs on drugs, trucks and furniture.
Neighborhood developer Martiez Grayer hopes his contracting business won’t be a casualty of the latest round of Trump tariffs.
He says the announced administration tariffs on imported kitchen cabinets, vanities, and other furniture items could force his decades-old Rufarro Remodeling and Maintenance business to raise its prices or cut back in other ways.
“It hurts my bottom line, because my company specializes and give it a nice product giving a nice product and keep the price affordable rate,” Grayer said. “Consider considering the bulk of our is done in the community, where I’m from, North Lawndale community.”
In a Truth Social post this week, President Trump also said he’d increase tariffs on upholstered furniture and on heavy trucks, citing concerns about foreign competition.
“A lot of companies are moving into the U.S., so they don’t have to pay tariffs,” Trump said. “If we didn’t have that, they wouldn’t do it, but they are moving in.”
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New tariffs on pharmaceutical products announced by the White House do not apply to generic drugs and medicine. Instead, the 100% tariff targets any branded or patented pharmaceutical product, meaning prices of imported pharmaceutical products imported to the united states beginning Oct. 1. Trump said an exception would be made for any company which is building their pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in America.
In a statement, the group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America responded to the tariffs, writing in part, “Pharma companies continue to announce hundreds of billions in new U.S. Investments… Tariffs risk those plans because every dollar spent on tariffs is a dollar that cannot be invested in American manufacturing or the development of future treatments and cures.”
Meanwhile, some people in Chicago remained concerned about the high cost of living as the price of goods and services like groceries and gas continue to rise.
It’s unclear if the new tariffs announced would apply on top of the national tariffs Trump has previously imposed on various U.S. trading partners.
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