Economists continue to study the impact that President Donald Trump’s tariffs are having on international trade. But one ag economist says they have not put a dent in consumers’ buying patterns. Dr. Darren Hudson, Director of the International Center for Agricultural Competitiveness at Texas Tech University, says where you can see the effect of the tariffs is on the export side.
“We know that tariffs have had impacts on U.S. exports and across the board, whether we’re talking about soybeans, corn, cotton, obviously soybeans was the big loser. You know, corn less so, and cotton a little less so. But it was a negative impact.”
But Hudson then looks at demand and sees a different picture.
“The price was going up, the landed value, or price that the consumer was going to pay was going up, but so was volume. And you know, that’s a little bit strange. When you think about it that way, it indicates a bit of, you know, insensitivity of the U.S. consumer to those prices, the tariff impact on, say, your shirt that you bought at the store was small enough that people really didn’t notice that.”
Hudson says this ultimately means the market is strong, especially for cotton in the U.S.
“On net, yes, I think the tariffs probably hurt raw cotton exports some, but really are not hurting those imports coming back. So, you know, there’s some strength in that demand side, or at least consistency in that demand side.”