LANSING — New reporting from The Detroit News highlights another way that Mike Rogers’ price-hiking agenda is stealing Christmas from Michigan families: surprise fees from tariffs.
Price Hike Mike has cheered on Trump’s reckless tariffs, which he calls “masterful” and “an absolute win,” even as they result in “unexpected charges on merchandise and festive favorites.” And for holiday shoppers who aren’t hit with surprise fees, they’re still more likely to pay higher prices as businesses pass on the cost of tariffs to Michigan consumers.
“Mike Rogers is more than happy to watch Christmas be stolen away from Michigan families while he enjoys the holidays from his Florida mansion,” said Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Joey Hannum. “The reckless tariffs that Price Hike Mike celebrates are jacking up prices and springing surprise fees on Michiganders as they shop for the holidays this year—and Rogers is so out of touch that he thinks people won’t notice when their stockings are a little lighter this year.”
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Detroit News: Tariffs threaten surprise fees for holiday shoppers
- If shoppers aren’t careful this holiday gift-giving season, they could get hit with unexpected charges on merchandise and festive favorites from overseas.
- “Unfortunately, a lot of U.S. consumers are going to be in for a surprise, especially if they haven’t ordered something online in a while,” said Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University. “They may be finding out that Santa Claus is bringing a nice little bit of extra fees with him this year.”
- The fees to look out for are charges from commercial shippers like UPS, DHL and FedEx for tariffs and processing fees that arrive hours or even days after shoppers click “buy.” The charges may not immediately show up in online checkouts but can sometimes approach — or even exceed — the initial price collected by retailers.
- […] The supply chain expert said the reasons for St. Nick’s additional sleigh fees mostly come from Uncle Sam. The culprits are a combination of President Donald Trump’s end to a widely used de minimis tariff exemption on low-value packages, his imposition of sweeping new import taxes, and interruptions to foreign and domestic postal services not yet equipped to handle the new normal.
- […] Trump’s move to end the exemption for all countries took effect on Aug. 29. Global shippers, as a result, have had to add additional package processing steps and apply tariff schedule classification codes to U.S.-bound items. Most are not equipped to handle such an undertaking.
- The United Nations’ Universal Postal Union said that postal flows to the United States as of Oct. 3 were down about 71% compared to the week prior to the Trump administration’s regulatory changes. More than 30 countries halted U.S.-bound postal service altogether in August, and only a handful have resumed, per the U.N. group.
- […] In Michigan, a state that’s home to several sizable expat enclaves with specific holiday traditions, Miller explained that higher overseas shipping charges will lead to price hikes but probably not surprise charges for most buyers.
- […] Raymond Bittner, who runs the Polish Art Center specialty shop in Hamtramck, said that has been his experience. The store also has a location in Cedar, near Traverse City. “I don’t directly import food products from Poland, but the major importers are based in Chicago and New York,” he said in a phone interview. The wholesalers pay the fees, but that still results in higher prices on the items he likes to stock around the holiday season.
- “Their prices have all gone up minimum 20%,” he said. “Everything from Poland is being hit with a 15% tariff on top of any existing tariffs. So, for example, I sell a lot of amber jewelry. The typical tariff on a piece of amber jewelry is 5%. Today I’m paying 20%.”
- The tariffs have caused him to raise prices and, in the limited cases of items he buys directly from Europe, stop stocking some products altogether.
- […] Other likely tariff impacts during the holiday shopping season, according to Miller, will include less access to variety this year.
- “Toy imports year to date are down about 15% on a weight basis through August, so it’s a pretty good measure of how many toys have come in,” the professor said.
- “And the reason is that with tariffs driving up the cost of the imports, retailers and wholesalers are much more hesitant to bring in as many toys as they would have previously.”
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