TROY Ala. (TROJANVISION) — With the recent mass tariff increase and subsequent pause ordered by President Trump, many in the country are worried about their economic standing.
Some Troy University students are supportive of the president’s decision, while others are skeptical.
Economics major and Sorrell Global Scholar, Caden Whitt, says he doesn’t see the tariffs as a massive problem. Meanwhile, Sorrell Global Scholar, Bo Miller, says he thinks President Trump could have handled the situation better.
“Personally, I haven’t seen too much of the retribution from the tariffs,” Whitt said. “Sadly, I think a lot of what is happening in culture and the media right now is tending to overblow the proportions of what’s happening.”
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“I’d say it’s not the worst idea,” Miller told TrojanVision. “I’m not sure if the implementation was right, however. I wouldn’t say the very heavy-handed type behavior that has been going on is necessarily great.”
Troy economics professor Dr. Noah Trudeau believes the effect and intentions of these tariffs can be misconstrued.
“A lot of people think that tax gets placed on people outside of the country that offers them, but you can’t tax people that aren’t in your country. What happens is you really tax the people that are importing those goods. To me, it looks like maybe these tariffs were just a way of getting everybody to come to the table and sit down and talk about international trade a little bit more.”
Whitt, however, thinks the tariffs are encouraging citizens to support American-made goods.
“I believe in a strong importance of shopping locally to support American producers and consumers. While it is slightly more expensive, it bolsters our economy, and it increases strong domestic competition.”
However, Miller is more worried about the increase’s effect on the market, as well as him, financially.
“It has definitely hurt my own margins on things, and definitely some of my savings and investments –because everybody is uncertain.”
At the time of this report, President Trump has put a pause on these tariffs, meaning the high taxes on imported goods are not currently being applied, but they are set to go back into effect 90 days after the pause was initiated on April 9th.
