The US retail industry plans to fight back against the negative impacts of the tariff wars. And they want consumers to understand the implications of tariffs as they did with the border-adjustment tax. What retailers hope to make clear to the general consumer is that they can expect prices to increase at some of the places they shop. Retailers like Target that import much of their inventory from China will be paying higher prices to bring those products with new tariffs attached to them.

For now, the first $50 billion in tariffs on China could add a 25 per cent tariff to a handful of machinery used for apparel and footwear manufacturing, though there’s no direct target on apparel or footwear finished goods. The newly proposed additional $200 billion tariffs on China, however, could still include apparel and footwear products, though there’s been no mention yet of the potential product targets for the tariffs.

It is estimated the first set of $50 billion tariffs alone could reduce US GDP by nearly $3 billion and cost the country 1,34,000 jobs. Imposing an additional $100 billion in tariffs could be a $49 billion hit to GDP and lead to the loss of 4,55,000 jobs.