As President Donald Trump’s tariff plans near activation on Aug. 1, many North Carolina business owners have been stocking up on imported products to prepare for a period of fluctuating prices and even interruption in access to certain foreign-made goods.
Questions over the extent and timeframe of tariff implementation has created uncertainty for businesses, including in North Carolina, many of whom have started to stockpile goods and supplies in anticipation of future price increases.
“US firms and consumers heavily front loaded orders of imports following Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ in April, anticipating higher prices and lower supplies,” said Brian Balfour, vice president of research for the John Lock Foundation. “Additionally, many of the imports currently being received in US ports are from orders locked in at prices previous to tariff announcements. It will, at minimum, take several months after the tariffs are fully implemented to gauge a clearer picture of their impact.”
North Carolina businesses across several industries — including transportation, food service, and retail — have taken such precautionary measures. North Carolina imports have already risen 39.8% year-to-date in 2025, a greater degree than the sum of preceding years. North Carolina imports grew 11.4% in 2023 and 9.5% in 2024.
Among the largest import increases are in pharmaceutical products (148.5%); inorganic chemicals (247.5%); ores; slag; and ash (272.3%); and preparation of fish, meat, and crustaceans (97%). Nonetheless, imports have increased consistently across the majority of sectors year-to-date:
- Apparel articles (not knit): 21.5%
- Electric machinery (including sound equipment, TV equipment, and parts): 14.0%
- Furniture, bedding, mattresses, luminaires, and light fixtures (prefabricated): 12.0%
- Industrial machinery (including computers): 8.3%
- Iron and steel: 8.6%
- Paper and paperboard articles: 15.8%
- Toys, games, and sports equipment (articles and accessories): 11.61%
As businesses throughout the state have been anticipating a rise in prices, demand has increased for goods in 52 out of 98 import commodity groups year-to-date. Total year-to-date North Carolina imports have amounted to $47.3 billion as of May 2025.
The administration has continued to push back its tariff deadline as few trading partners have agreed to a deal. Full implementation is now scheduled for Aug. 1.
On July 14, Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, discussed the president’s economic plan with CNBC’s “Squawkbox” business news program. Part of the discussion focused on potential drawbacks of the administration’s comprehensive tariff policy, which has been front and center since “Liberation Day.”
Hassett expressed optimism about future economic conditions, citing the president’s background as a seasoned dealmaker: “We’ve got a guy who’s the best dealmaker in history, who made billions of dollars by, you know, squeezing everything out of deals… We’ve got a deadline, and we’ll see how things land. But I know they are going to land in favor of the American people.”
When asked why neither inflation nor the labor market seemed to be reacting adversely to the tariff policies, Hassett attributed this to a combination of lower import prices and economic patriotism.
“Americans, because of President Trump’s leadership, have recognized that when they buy an American product, they not only get perhaps a better product, certainly a better product most of the time, but they’re also making their communities stronger,” Hassett said. “And so, I think there’s a lot of patriotism in the data.”
Other economists and policymakers, in opposition to the president’s tariff policies, have contended that while prices aren’t rising now, they will soon once the new tariffs kick in.
“With a majority of Trump’s tariffs being delayed until Aug. 1, it’s very premature to make any conclusions about the tariffs’ impact on the prices of impacted goods,” said Balfour.