What Trump’s past tariffs signal for future costs of goods

During President-elect Trump’s first term in office, he primarily implemented tariffs on industrial equipment and other goods in the supply chain that did not directly impact the bank accounts of everyday Americans. The one exception to this was washing machines. In 2018, Trump imposed a tariff on imported washing machines that remained in effect until 2023. Could the impact of this during that time forecast higher prices in the future if Trump were to enact new tariffs in his second term? We get into it.

In this week’s episode of Capitol Gains, Senior Columnist Rick Newman talks to host Rachelle Akuffo and Washington Correspondent Ben Werschkul about the history of the washing machine tariff. When the tariff was enacted in 2018, the price of imported washing machines increased about $90 per unit, which is a 12% increase. Prices remained this high while the tariffs were in place. In addition to the higher cost of washing machines, manufacturers even raised the price of dryers, which were not subject to the tariff, because both appliances are typically sold as a set. In 2023 the tariff expired so prices for everything went back down.

“The industry will tell you there’s been no change in the overall price of this consumer good,” Newman says. “But that’s because the tariff expired. If you had measured it when the tariff was still in effect, yes, absolutely there was a higher cost paid by American consumers.”

While we have yet to see where Trump will actually be targeting his tariffs once he re-enters the White House, it’s worth noting what happened in the past to help forecast what could happen in the future.

To learn more, listen to the full episode of Capitol Gains here.

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This post was written by Lauren Pokedoff.