Trump tariffs to soon impact American consumers: Which products will run dry?

Consumers might, at times, find there are no goods to pay for as companies from Europe to Asia halt shipments of cars to video game consoles to the US. That follows Trump’s move last week to slap new tariffs on imports from some 60 countries, including China and the European Union, Reuters reported.

Here’s a look at some of the products that could be harder to find as businesses weigh the cost of additional tariffs and consider scaling back their shipments to the US.

Cars, SUVs

Audi has suspended deliveries to the US, with shipments that arrived after April 2 to be held from dealers for the time being. The luxury marque told showrooms to focus on selling the existing inventory of around 37,000 vehicles, which should last about two months.

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New Jaguar Land Rover vehicles may be hard to come by after the British carmaker said it’s putting exports on hold in April as it deals with the new trading terms. Japan’s Nissan Motor Co. said it will stop selling two Mexican-built Infiniti sports utility vehicles in the US market.

Bloomberg News reported that Mercedes-Benz AG was considering withdrawing its least expensive cars from the US as the new levies would make their sales economically unviable.

Gaming consoles

The gaming world is also feeling the pinch. Japan’s Nintendo has announced a delay in pre-orders for its much-anticipated Switch 2 console. Originally set to begin on April 9, the pre-order launch has now been postponed indefinitely as the company evaluates the effect of the new import taxes.

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The company assures fans that the official release date, June 5, will remain unchanged, but the delay is a clear indication of how the tariffs are impacting the tech industry’s ability to ship products on time.

Japan whiskey

The US consumers will also run dry on award-winning Japanese whiskey as Suntory Holdings Ltd decided to divert products to Japan and other Asian markets if Trump’s tariffs make them too expensive for American consumers, Bloomberg reported.

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“If prices of Hibiki and Yamazaki become up too high for US consumers, we have an option of simply changing the target market,” Suntory President Nobuhiro Torii said in an interview. He noted that demand remains strong elsewhere, such as in Asia and Japan.

Trump tariffs

President Donald Trump announced his latest — and most sweeping — round of tariffs on April 2, which he dubbed “Liberation Day,” as part of his “reciprocal” trade plan.

Trump declared that the US would now tax nearly all of America’s trading partners at a minimum of 10% — and impose steeper rates for countries that he says run trade surpluses with the US.

(with Reuters inputs)