Channel 3 News in Chattanooga covered the local impact on costs for consumers and producers following the imposition of tariffs. CRER director Howard Wall had this to say:
“Imports from Mexico—you’ll see a lot of increase in prices of foods,” said Dr. Howard Wall, director of the Center for Regional Economic Research at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. “We get a lot of fruits and vegetables that are kind of out of season here, so we get year-round fruits and vegetables that restaurants and grocery stores rely on. But also, the raw materials are really big coming from Canada, so we get a lot of steel from Canada, a lot of aluminum, a lot of lumber.”
“Whether you’re a consumer as a business person, or as a consumer in your household, you’re going to see higher prices,” he said. “Some of your prices will be higher because businesses pay higher costs, some will be directly paid by you because your fruits and vegetables are more expensive.”