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In the first weekend since President Trump unveiled broad tariffs, many shoppers sought to get ahead of expected price hikes, while others showed patience.
April 6, 2025, 12:34 p.m. ET
Charlene and Phil Willingham had been thinking for a while about replacing the 20-year-old appliances in their kitchen, but with the sudden prospect of rising costs, they decided that this was the moment. The Willinghams, both retired, turned up at a store in the suburbs of Chicago on Friday with a long shopping list: stove, refrigerator, microwave oven and dishwasher.
“We were going to take our time to get new appliances, but now because of these tariffs, I want to get them before any price increases take place,” Ms. Willingham, 64, said while shopping at the Abt Electronics store in Glenview, Ill. Of the Trump administration’s sweeping announcement of tariffs across the globe last week, she said, “It sort of set the fire.”
In grocery stores, car dealerships, malls and big discount chains around the country, interviews with more than two dozen Americans this weekend showed that many were racing to figure out how to get ahead of the new tariffs plan, quickly making calculated purchases, big and small.
“The panic is enough to make me want to buy,” Shali Santos, 28, said, after stocking up on essentials in bulk — water, soap, mouthwash — at a Costco Wholesale store in Marina del Rey, a waterfront community in Los Angeles County, and noticing that many people around her seemed to be stocking up more than usual on similar staples.
Others said their shopping habits were unchanged by the tariffs announcement, largely because they had patience and trust in the president’s long game, and figured that any short-term pain, including potential cost hikes, would work itself out.
“I’m confident it will recover,” Gregg Harris, 61, said as he shopped for food at a Walmart in Nashville.
