A Wave Of Panic Buying Has Suddenly Erupted At Retailers All Over America

This article was originally published by Michael Snyder at The Economic Collapse Blog. 

Do you remember the panic buying that we witnessed during the early days of the pandemic?  It’s back, and I have a feeling that it is only going to intensify in the days ahead.  As more Americans begin to realize that products made in China will soon more than double in price and that some may no longer be available at all, there will be a feverish rush to purchase Chinese-made goods.  Ironically, this may actually give a short-term boost to the U.S. economy, and the economic numbers for the first half of this year may end up looking better than they otherwise would have.

Before I get too deep into this article, there are a couple of things that I want to clarify.

First of all, I do not think that the U.S. should have ever begun trading with communist China at all because communist China has always been an incredibly evil regime.

Secondly, it was a catastrophic error for the U.S. to become so deeply dependent on imports from China.  This is something that I have been writing about for years.  Our stores are now teeming with products that were made in China, and thousands of our supply chains simply cannot function without equipment, parts or products that come from China.

But our leaders refused to listen to those of us who were sounding the alarm, and now we have a real mess on our hands.

Because we have become so deeply dependent on China, the trade war that has now begun is really going to hurt, and everyone should be able to see that.

On Thursday, the White House confirmed that the total tariff rate on Chinese imports has now risen to 145 percent…

The U.S. tariff rate on Chinese imports now effectively totals 145%, a White House official confirmed to CNBC.

Trump’s latest executive order hikes tariffs on Beijing to 125% from 84%.

But that comes on top of a 20% fentanyl-related tariff that Trump previously imposed on China.

One economist is warning that high tariff rates on both sides will lead to “a hard decoupling”, and he says that it would be “really hard to overstate the expected shocks this is going to have”…

“This is probably the strongest indication we’ve seen pushing towards a hard decoupling,” said Nick Marro, principal economist for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit, referring to an outcome where the two economies have virtually no trade or mutual investment.

“It’s really hard to overstate the expected shocks this is going to have, not just to the Chinese economy itself, but also to the entire global trading landscape,” as well as on the US, he said.

I fully agree with his assessment.

What we are witnessing is going to cause a tremendous amount of disruption.

Apparently, lots of other people see things the same way because a wave of panic buying has now started.

Across the country, people have been rushing to stores or going online to buy everything from iPhones to coffee to designer bags and jewelry in anticipation of the toll the tariffs will take on their wallets.

If there is something that is made in China that you really need, I would get it now while you still can.

One woman that just visited her local Costco said that she has “never seen it so busy”…

Costco was a total nightmare yesterday. I’ve never seen it so busy. I walked out after seeing the lines going down each aisle with no end in sight.

Another woman that lives in New York City admitted to a reporter that her mother is literally “panicking”…

“Actually, I already have. I’ve already started stocking up. My mother has a whole stockpile, and she’s panicking. But I told her we’re going to be okay, as we live in New York City,” said Amelia Guilford, a retail worker who was visiting her mother in the city.

The price hikes that we will soon see will be quite a shock to the system, and this will particularly be true for big ticket items.

For example, it is being projected that the cost to manufacture an iPhone could go up by hundreds of dollars…

Trump’s new tariffs on Chinese goods mean the cost for Apple to manufacture an iPhone could jump from $580 to $850, according to a report from TechInsights.

In anticipation of the coming price hikes, there was a “full-blown buying spree” at Apple stores over the weekend…

Apple just faced a weekend retail frenzy more typical of iPhone launch day than early April. With the Trump administration floating a 54% tariff on Chinese-made goods including Apple’s flagship devices U.S. consumers rushed into stores, fearing sharp price hikes were imminent. According to reports from multiple locations, sales surged as worried buyers sought to lock in current prices, turning what’s usually a quiet season into a full-blown buying spree.

Many of the parts that go into our new vehicles also come from China, and it is being reported that U.S. auto sales were quite a bit higher than expected last month as people rushed to purchase new vehicles before the tariffs were implemented.

US auto sales for March came in higher than Deutsche Bank analysts expected, the bank said in a Friday report, rising from February levels. That might indicate “panic buying” as Americans sought to get ahead of the tariffs on foreign-made vehicles that took effect last week.

The analysts said they had expected higher numbers due to a pre-tariff pull-forward. But “this impact appears far greater than we anticipated,” the report read. Deutsche Bank expected auto sales to be strong through June, then weaken in the back half of the year.

Unless the U.S. and China can reach some sort of an agreement, and that appears very unlikely at this stage, our standard of living is about to change dramatically.

According to CNBC, approximately 70 percent of the goods sold on Amazon come from China…

Many sellers on Amazon count on China for manufacturing and assembly due to lower costs and established infrastructure – up to 70% of goods on Amazon come from China, according to Wedbush Securities. With nearly all imports from China being taxed a staggering 145% under the latest tariffs, Amazon sellers are having to decide whether to raise prices or absorb the vastly increased cost of importing their goods.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Thursday told CNBC that its vast network of third-party sellers will likely “pass the cost on” to consumers. He added that Amazon has done some “strategic forward inventory buys” and looked to renegotiate terms on some purchase orders to keep prices low.

Reuters spoke to five Amazon sellers in China.  Three of them said that they would be raising prices, and two of them said that they would be leaving the U.S. market completely…

Of the five sellers who spoke to Reuters, three said they would look to raise prices for their exports to the U.S., while two planned to leave the market entirely.

Dave Fong, whose products range from schoolbags to Bluetooth speakers, said on Thursday he has raised prices in the U.S. by up to 30% and would let inventory levels fall and lower spending on Amazon advertising fees, which once took up 40% of his U.S. revenue.

“For us and anyone else, you can’t rely on the U.S. market, that’s quite clear,” Fong said. “We have to reduce investment, and put more resources into regions like Europe, Canada, Mexico and the rest of the world.”

If this trade war persists, it will be an even bigger economic shock than the pandemic was.

But to me, there is potentially an even bigger concern.

The threat of economic sanctions has always been one of the barriers that has made China think twice about invading Taiwan.

But now that our two economies are rapidly decoupling anyway, the Chinese may come to the conclusion that this is actually a perfect time to make a move on Taiwan.

This crisis with China is a far bigger deal than most people realize, and it could have some very serious unintended consequences.

Michael’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “Why” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written eight other books that are available on Amazon.com, including Chaos, End Times, 7 Year Apocalypse, Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America, The Beginning Of The End, and Living A Life That Really Matters.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books, you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream, and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.