# Are we (in the US) going to end up with empty shelves and much higher prices in May? What should we do to prepare **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [April 26, 2025, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518 "2025-04-26T01:37:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/81 "2025-05-03T14:11:26Z")
The de minimis exception for small purchasers expired last night. Tariffs will now be applied to all small imports by consumers that formerly were exempt. > **[A massive tariff on millions of Americans’ purchases just went into effect —...](https://www.cp24.com/news/world/2025/05/02/a-massive-tariff-on-millions-of-americans-purchases-just-went-into-effect-cue-the-chaos/)** > > Many Americans might not have felt major effects from U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs – until now. > [@](#): > > The loophole helped reshape the way countless Americans shop, allowing ultra-low-cost Chinese e-commerce sites like Shein, Temu and AliExpress to pour everything from yarn to patio furniture, clothes to photography equipment and more into U.S. homes. > > Its impending end has rung alarm bells across social media, with a baseline tariff as high as 145 per cent depending on the carrier set to take effect on Chinese imports, potentially more than doubling the cost for all those cheap products deal-hungry Americans scooped up. The change will likely have a greater impact on low-income Americans: > [@](#): > > That’s a lot of dog bandanas, bead kits, frosting spatulas and tchotchkes. Regular Temu and Shein shoppers told CNN this week they’ve increasingly turned to the site as they feel made-in-the-USA products have gotten out of reach. > > “I can’t afford to buy from Temu now, and I already couldn’t afford to buy in this country,” Rena Scott, a 64-year-old retired nurse from Virginia, previously said to CNN Business. > > Lower-income households will suffer the most from the end of cheap Chinese e-commerce sites. About 48 per cent of de minimis packages shipped to the poorest zip codes in the United States, while 22 per cent were delivered to the richest ones, according to February research from UCLA and Yale economists. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/82 "2025-05-03T14:14:01Z")
So legally, what is to stop China from shipping their products to Mexico, slapping a ‘made in mexico’ sticker on them and then importing them from Mexico? It would take longer, but the tariffs would be lower. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/83 "2025-05-03T14:17:27Z")
> [@illoe](#): > > To return to the thread topic, I’m preparing by planting my garden, tending to the backyard chickens so I can give away delicious eggs to people who didn’t vote for fascism, and talking with my kids about the virtues of (trying to) making/fixing things instead of buying new stuff. > > I renewed my CostCo membership and cancelled renewal of my 28-year-old Amazon prime subscription when Bezos took control of the WaPo editorial page. That helped with impulse buying. The issue is I don’t know if overall food shortages will be a huge problem. There will be some types food shortages due to a mix of tariffs and immigrant labor not showing up for work. But my point is that wheat and corn are produced domestically and are largely mechanized and not reliant on immigrant labor. Also its my understanding the US produces a lot of pork and chicken domestically, but I don’t know how dependent the factories that process it are dependent on immigrant labor. I even read that the US produces more rice than it consumes. I didn’t even know the US grew rice, but apparently we produce 20 billion pounds of it a year, more than we consume. However the quality isn’t the same as the quality of rice you can buy from thailand or India. I guess my point is that even though there will be shortages, I don’t think we are going to starve. There should be enough domestically produced calories from staple crops to prevent people from starving or going hungry. However we will have fewer dietary options as things like fruits and vegetables get harder to find. Also since other nations are also tariffing our food exports, I could see a lot of domestic producers of dairy or pork going bankrupt, causing domestic supply to drop dramatically in 2-3 years. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/84 "2025-05-03T14:21:53Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > So legally, what is to stop China from shipping their products to Mexico, slapping a ‘made in mexico’ sticker on them and then importing them from Mexico? It would take longer, but the tariffs would be lower. Legally? It’s illegal to mislabel products. Can they get away with it? I have no idea, but it’s illegal on its face. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/85 "2025-05-03T14:29:41Z")
For one thing, Mexico would expect the products to be marked as Made in China when imported into Mexico. I suppose you could resticker them afterward but Mexico wouldn’t be happy about it since they’ll catch flack. The US says they can run on-site verification for products from Mexico or Canada so, if they get suspicious about a bunch of plastic electronics supposedly made in Mexico, you better have a factory ready to fool the visiting feds. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/86 "2025-05-03T14:40:26Z")
It will be Mexican workers putting on those stickers, so it’s all good. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/87 "2025-05-03T18:43:08Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > So legally, what is to stop China from shipping their products to Mexico, slapping a ‘made in mexico’ sticker on them and then importing them from Mexico? I’m not sure that Mexico would allow this to happen, but there are plenty of other Mexican countries that would welcome the business. ---
**Author:** ![Dag\_Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@Dag\_Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dag_Otto)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/88 "2025-05-03T19:02:31Z")
It’s Mexicos all the way down. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/89 "2025-05-03T19:27:15Z")
Its actually an Ouroboros. Its mexicos all the way down, until you get back to the head at new mexico. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2025, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/90 "2025-05-03T19:40:08Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > But my point is that wheat and corn are produced domestically and are largely mechanized and not reliant on immigrant labor. Also its my understanding the US produces a lot of pork and chicken domestically, but I don’t know how dependent the factories that process it are dependent on immigrant labor. Tyson used to post ads in Mexico encouraging people to come work in their meat processing plants. Meat packing is a dirty, unpleasant job and they rely on a lot of immigrant labor. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/91 "2025-05-04T01:10:09Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > So legally, what is to stop China from shipping their products to Mexico, slapping a ‘made in mexico’ sticker on them and then importing them from Mexico? It would take longer, but the tariffs would be lower. For the first part there is certificate of origin and export authorisation attached to the original shipping documentation. And why throw in this obfuscation about “China shipping to Mexico then importing from Mexico”? The company importing the goods into the USA is an American company. The game in play here is an American importer trying to avoid American taxes. Also known as smuggling. No skin off any Sino nose. China will get essentially the same price for their stuff regardless of it’s destination. If you thought that customs and excise regulations were so lax as to allow this to happen with impunity, wouldn’t you think this tax dodge would have been tried in the past few centuries of international trade? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/92 "2025-05-04T01:39:37Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > There should be enough domestically produced calories from staple crops to prevent people from starving or going hungry. I’ll stake you any ante you want that in 5 years time the average American will be as overweight as they are now. > [@](#): > > Also since other nations are also tariffing our food exports, I could see a lot of domestic producers of dairy or pork going bankrupt, causing domestic supply to drop dramatically in 2-3 years. You just gotta love the audacity and internal inconsistency of an argument that American farms will be going bankrupt because they can’t export food produce (replete with subsidies from the US Farm Bill and Export Enhancement Program (EEP)) at the same time as American consumers are starving because they can’t get their dietary requirements of avocados and blueberries. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/93 "2025-05-04T01:58:45Z")
Yeah, ain’t it so. Arkansas chicken processing plants gonna be suffering for employees. No non-immigrant person I know would work in one. It’s very easy to get employment there, it’s not so easy to go back the second day. Dirty job. Did the Dirty jobs guy _Mike??_, ever worked in a Chicken processing plant? ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/94 "2025-05-04T03:34:49Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > It’s very easy to get employment there, it’s not so easy to go back the second day. > Dirty job. A friend of mine worked at a Tyson plant for one day. She spent the entire day cutting some one part of the chicken off of another using what was essential kitchen shears. All day. She didn’t go in the next day. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/95 "2025-05-04T03:36:29Z")
Chicken processing is dangerous, too. It’s one of the very few occupations with higher workers compensation costs than “meat packing”, which is also very risky. ---
**Author:** ![LoneRhino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lonerhino/32/1311_2.png) [@LoneRhino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoneRhino)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/96 "2025-05-04T04:16:55Z")
I just want to add that the sarcasm was also obvious to me as well. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/97 "2025-05-04T04:31:45Z")
I have a Filipino friend who lost a finger in a chicken plant. She said she never saw that finger again. I hope some unfortunate family didn’t have it for dinner that week. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/98 "2025-05-04T04:41:44Z")
Glad to hear that all but one (@DrDeth ) got it. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Did the Dirty jobs guy _Mike??_, ever worked in a Chicken processing plant? I worked in an egg ranch and it was bar none, the absoulute worst job I could ever imagine. I’ve worked a LOT of ag jobs and constuction jobs, and the egg ranch job was head and shoulders way worse than any other. Unless you like getting shit on by thousands of excited hens, you’ll probably agree. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/99 "2025-05-04T06:18:44Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > If you thought that customs and excise regulations were so lax as to allow this to happen with impunity, wouldn’t you think this tax dodge would have been tried in the past few centuries of international trade? I’m sure this one won’t be, but I bet there are people reading up on the routes from Canada to the US smugglers used during Prohibition. Big government imposed differences in costs drive smuggling. When I was in college 50 years ago I used to drive from Boston to Virginia, and got stopped once by a cop who thought I might be smuggling cigarettes. It happened due to the big tax difference. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2025, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518/100 "2025-05-04T06:36:05Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > If you thought that customs and excise regulations were so lax as to allow this to happen with impunity, wouldn’t you think this tax dodge would have been tried in the past few centuries of international trade? It may not happen with impunity all the time, but it happens a lot. Here’s just one article about it. > Milton Magnus vs. China: One Man’s Trade War > [MSN](https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/milton-magnus-vs-china-one-man-s-trade-war/ar-AA1qbihc?ocid=remrbc) I heard a podcast last year about another man who tried fruitlessly to get the US to investigate China shipping goods from other Asian countries and selling them as having been manufactured there, but finding out after extremely long delays that the US govt didn’t have enough resources to bother dealing with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-we-in-the-us-going-to-end-up-with-empty-shelves-and-much-higher-prices-in-may-what-should-we-do-to-prepare/1017518.md?page=6)