WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — WPTV keeps searching for information to help you understand tariffs and how they can affect your budget.
Reporter Matt Sczesny has been tracking all of this for a couple of weeks and looked deeper into tariffs, which are charged by and paid to governments.
WATCH BELOW: WPTV speaks to trade expert, dean of local business school about tariffs
We spoke with Gary Shapiro, who works with the Consumer Technology Association trade group, to help us understand tariffs.
"The way it works for consumers is, (if) you're a business and you import something that comes into the United States, and sometimes there's tariffs and sometimes not, and there are various fees depending on the product and the country," Shapiro said. "You pay that fee and bake it into your business planning."
He said when tariffs go up, it can leave companies stuck with products that suddenly go up in price.
President Donald Trump said his tariff plan will help to reverse U.S. trade deficits with countries like China.
"The truth is a lot of the things we buy, rely on, everything from lawn furniture to electronics to households and goods and so much stuff comes from China," Shapiro said.
And now those products will likely cost more.
However, most economists say the deficits happen for many reasons.
WPTV also spoke with Dr. Brian Strow, the dean of the Rinker School of Business at Palm Beach Atlantic University, to get his thoughts.
"Who cares if you run a trade deficit with one country? You're bigger point is in totality. If you're importing more than you're exporting, something may be awry. Maybe you're consuming more than your income and you're borrowing money, and that's a sign of more consumption patterns," Strow said. "It doesn't necessarily mean that country is rigging the system or out to get you."
The long-term solution might be to look toward more manufacturing in the U.S. Shapiro predicts that could also mean higher costs and little job gain.
"What about other manufacturing? How do we get it here? Well, as the commerce secretary says, we can get it here, but it will be highly automated," Strow said. "We don't have the factory designers or factory equipment. We're going to have to import those. We don't want to pay taxes on that, so how do we do it and how do we prioritize it, and that's where we need some real thinking."
