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Economy Candys shelves brim with sweets from around the worldgummies from Germany, lollipops from Spain, chocolates from Japan, and a panoply of candies from across the U.S. Standing amid it all, columns of bright jellybeans to his left and exotic Kit Kats to his right, owner Mitchell Cohen is quick with his assessment of how many of this shops 2,000-plus items are affected by the historic round of tariffs announced by President Donald Trump. I think all of them, Cohen says at his store on New York’s Lower East Side. Few corners of the American economy are untouched, directly or indirectly, by the sweeping tariffs being imposed by Trumpeven a little store like Economy Candy. Cohen had just begun to feel a barrage of inflation-driven price increases from suppliers ease when the tariff threats arrived. For a business with a name like Economy Candy, he wants to remain affordable but fears how high some prices may have to climb in the coming months. I think its gonna be another round of this hyperinflation on some items, says 39-year-old Cohen. If were putting tariffs everywhere, it is going to go up. Stepping into Economy Candy feels like a time warp. Its name is emblazoned on a sign in a vintage, blaring red script, and crossing below its green-and-white striped awning, past the bins of Smarties, butterscotches and Lemonheads in the front window, an indecipherable sweetness fills the air, oldies music sounds overhead, and customers mill around stacks of candy bars they forgot still existed. It represents just a blip in the countrys $54 billion candy industry. But it was already feeling the weight of surges in prices of cocoa and other ingredients before tariffs were layered on. Candy and gum prices are up about 34% from five years ago and 89% from 2005, according to Consumer Price Index data. Price, according to the National Confectioners Association, has become the top factor in consumers candy purchase decisions, outweighing a buyer’s mood. About a third of Economy Candys products are imported, crowded on shelves and tables near the stores rear. There arent just more German Haribo varieties than the Haribo store in Germany, as Cohen claims, but gummies the brand makes in France, Austria, and Britain. They have every Milka bar they can find in Switzerland, every type of Leone hard candies that Italy churns out and as many exotic Kit Kats from Japan as they can fit. On products like these, the tariffs toll is obvious. Pistachio Snickers bars are from India, now subject to 26% tariffs, while passion fruit mousse Snickers are from Portugal, now under the 20% European Union levies. But even an American-made Snickers isnt immune. While the bars may roll off conveyors in Texas, they rely on ingredients from around the globe. Sourcemap, which tracks supply chains, says Snickers bars include chocolate from Guyana and sugar from Brazil and are wrapped in packaging from Canada. All are now subjected to varying levels of tariffs. Theres a lot of ingredients in there that have to come from other countries, says Andreas Waldkirch, an economics professor at Colby College who teaches a class on international trade. Unless youre talking about something very simple from your local farmers market, almost every product relies on ingredients from elsewhere. Those indirect costs are really whats going to drive up prices. The story repeats with American candies across the storethe boxes of Nerds and bags of Sugar Babies and rolls of Smarties are all inextricably tied to the global supply chain. A table teeming with those domestic delicacies takes center stage near Economy Candys entrance. Cohen took over the store from his parents, who took it over from their parents before. He got his first haircut in the store. He was behind the register as a child. He took his wife by on their first date. As a kid, everything on the stores centerpiece table of American treats cost 59 cents. By 2020, the price was $1.29, but customers who bought a whole box paid a discounted rate of $1 per piece. Now, Cohen cant even get them wholesale at that price. Today, he sells the items on the table for $1.59. Cohen calls the selection a loss leader but thinks it’s important to showcase his store’s affordability. Once the tariffs are fully implemented, hes not sure hell be able to put off price increases. When your margins are coming down and your dollar doesnt go as far at the end of the day, you really start to feel it, he says. But I dont want anyone to come into Economy Candy and not think that its economical. The biggest-ticket implications of the tariff blitz understandably gain the most attentionthe thousands of dollars a cars price tag may grow, the tens of thousands that disappear from a retirement account in a single day. But here among the root beer barrels and licorice strands, you’re reminded that small-dollar items are affected too, and so are the families selling them. At its birth, the business Cohens grandfather started focused on shoe and hat repairs. But in the wake of the Great Depression, when few in a neighborhood of crowded tenements had money for such fixes, the business pivoted. Candy, once relegated to a cart out front, took over the store. In the 88 years since, business hasn’t always been Chuckles and Zagnuts. The Sept. 11 attacks kept tourists away and had sales sagging and the pandemic closed the store and forced it to pivot to online sales. If tariffs upend things, Cohen isnt sure how he might adapt again. He sells products that arent made in America and he sells American products made with ingredients from across the globe. He had just been making headway on beginning international sales, but the web of tariff rules may make it impossible. The average U.S. tariff could rise to nearly 25% if the import taxes Trump put on goods from dozens of countries are fully implemented Wednesday. That would be the highest rate in more than a century, including tariffs widely blamed for worsening the Great Depression. Trump said imposing the tariffs amounted to a liberation day for a country that has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by friend and foe alike, insisting it was very, very good news for the U.S. Cohen isn’t sure how that can be true for a business like his. I can understand bringing manufacturing and bringing things back to America, but you know, we rely on raw materials that just arent native to our country, he says. And its not like I can get a green tea Japanese Kit Kat from an American company. As Cohen stood before mounds of strawberry candies in shiny wrappers and little cubes of caramel in cellophane, the first word of the tariffs concrete impact on him arrived. A French supplier emailed saying it wa immediately imposing a 5% surcharge due to the tariffs, expressing regret for the move and hope that the situation will be resolved swiftly. Cohen wore a smile anyway. He wants this to be a happy place for visitors. You travel back to a time when nothing mattered, Cohen says, “when you didnt worry about anything. Matt Sedensky, AP national writer
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E-Commerce
John Gutierrez had been thinking about buying a new laptop for the past year. The Austin, Texas, resident needed a computer with faster processing and increased storage for his photography work and had his sights set on a product from a Taiwanese brand.Then President Donald Trump announced expansive new import tariffs Wednesday, including a 32% tax on imports from Taiwan. That same day, Gutierrez ordered the laptop, with a base price of $2,400, from a retailer in New York specializing in photo and video gear.“I thought I’d bite the bullet, buy it now, and then that way I’ll have the latest technology on my laptop and don’t have to worry about the tariffs,” he said.Gutierrez was among the U.S. consumers rushing to buy big-ticket items before the tariffs take effect. Economists say the tariffs are expected to increase prices for everyday items, warning of potentially weakened U.S. economic growth.The White House hopes the tariffs prod countries to open their economies to more American exports, leading to negotiations that could reduce tariffs, or that companies increase their production in the U.S. to avoid higher import taxes.Rob Blackwell and his wife needed a new car that could handle long drives from Arlington, Virginia, to their son’s college. Their current electric vehicle is older with a limited range, and it will soon be used by his daughter, who is on the verge of getting her driver’s license.“I have been telling my wife that for some time we were going to need to do it,” he said, “and I was watching to see what the president did with tariffs.”Blackwell wanted another EV, but said leasing made more economic sense because the technology is ever-changing. He had his eye on the new General Motors Optiq; it’s an American car but made in Mexico, which could be subject to tariffs on supply chains that might increase the cost.After hearing that tariffs would be announced, they made plans the weekend before to lease the car. He said the dealership honored the agreement they worked out before the tariffs were finalized. And although he said the salespeople were a pleasure to deal with, Blackwell sensed a shift in their stance.“They know what we know, which is suddenly it flips from a buyer’s market to a seller’s market very quickly,” Blackwell said, adding that he is happy with his choice.“It was just a simple rational decision,” he said. “If this is what the government’s going to do, I need to get my act together.”Lee Wochner, CEO of the Burbank, California-based Counterintuity marketing and strategy firm, also needed a new vehicle. He wanted a more presentable car for business meetings, but kept putting it off because of his busy work schedule.On March 27, a Thursday, he told his firm’s car broker: “Ed, I need a car pronto and it’s got to happen by Sunday.”The broker gave him some car and pricing options and he leased an Audi Q3, which was delivered Sunday to his house by a nearby dealership.A quick back-of-the-envelope calculation showed how much he saved by leasing before the tariffs were implemented. If he had waited, Wochner said, it would have cost about another $4,300.“One of the things my car broker said was that deals that were already written, some of the dealerships were ripping them up already and renegotiating them because they were afraid that they weren’t going to be able to get enough new inventory at a price anybody would buy,” he said.He believes prices will continue to increase because the U.S. has lost the trust of the international trade market.“If you need a new car, if you can get that pre-tariff deal still, you should go get it,” he said, “because who knows what next Wednesday might be like.” Claire Rush and Mark Thiessen, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
President Donald Trump has aggressively targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion programs across a wide swath of American society. So when Trump sent a White House invitation to the 2024 World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgersthe franchise of Jackie Robinson, a team whose identity is indelibly linked to its role in dismantling racial segregation in sportsit surprised some that the Dodgers accepted. Less than a week before they did so the Defense Department removed a tribute to Robinson on its website, a move apparently linked to its DEI purge. (The page was restored following a public outcry.) Author and retired urban policy professor Peter Dreier is among those who have criticized the Dodgers decision to celebrate their World Series victory with Trump. Dreier, who has chronicled the history of baseball and social activism in two books, co-wrote an opinion piece in the L.A. Times making the case for why the Dodgers should decline an invite from Trumpeven before one was issued. Capital & Main spoke with Dreier the weekend before the Dodgers were scheduled to visit the Oval Office. This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. Capital & Main: Dodger manager Dave Roberts says that visiting the White House isnt about the current president but about the office itself. Why do you disagree with that? Peter Dreier: Every president likes to get his picture taken with famous athletes. This is a photo opportunity for Trump to be seen with popular athletes and to bask in the reflected glory of the Dodgers victory. So its clearly not just about the office, its about the occupant. Hes sliding in the polls right now, and I assume he thinks that being seen with Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani will give him some free publicity that can help his presidency. So I think its naive and somewhat disingenuous for Dave Roberts to say that, and I doubt he believes it. Given the Dodgers history of breaking the color barrier by making Jackie Robinson the first Black Major League Baseball player, should that history and Trumps targeting of DEI have been a factor in the Dodgers decision about going to the White House? The Dodgers pat themselves on the back all the time for being the first team to integrate, and theyve ridden the Jackie Robinson reputation for a long time since 1947. So thats clearly something that they are proud of. Trump has called for the largest mass deportation in U.S. history. Los Angeles is a city with a very large number of immigrants and whose economy relies in large part on immigrant labor, including that of undocumented immigrants. Should that have played a role in the teams decision? There are quite a few players on the Dodgers who are from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Asia. If they have any social conscience or awareness, which Im sure most of them do, they arent happy with the way Trumps administration is treating immigrants. Will you stop going to Dodger games? If I stopped going to sports events because I didnt like the politics of the players or organization, I wouldnt go to sports events. Just like if I only bought clothes made by union labor Id be naked. Itll be interesting to see whether Billie Jean King or Magic Johnson [part owners of the Dodgers] go to the White House. They explicitly campaigned for Harris. Are you disappointed that neither Johnson nor King nor any of the more prominent Dodger players have spoken out against the teams decision to go visit Trump in the White House? Yes. Im disappointed that they didnt have the courage to speak out. Maybe Billie Jean King and Magic will speak out at some point, but so far, they havent. When it comes to sports and politics, where do you think individual players or teams should draw the line and either take a stand or not? If youre a big star, you can speak out. You might lose some fans, but you might gain some fans. Trump barely got half of the votes in the United States and got very few in the L.A. area, so it would not be that harmful to the careers of Dodger players for them to speak out against the Dodgers going to meet Trump. And its very disappointing that none of them have stepped up to the plate, so to speak. Would Jackie Robinson have gone with the Dodgers to visit Donald Trump and the White House, were he alive today? Jackie Robinson would be outraged by the Dodgers meeting with Trump. Jackie Robinson was a liberal Republican. He went to the Republican convention [in 1964] supporting the liberal Republican Nelson Rockefeller when they nominated Barry Goldwater, and he heard people say things in that convention that so angered him that he came out of that event and said I know what it must have felt like to be at a Nazi rally. Donald Trump is a lot worse. Robinson always had the courage of his convictions regardless of what impact it had on him. He was criticized during his playing career for speaking out, and he said Im always going to speak out against injustice and if you dont like it, its too bad. So Im 100% sure Jackie Robinson would be upset that the Dodgers are going to the White House, and I think hed be extremely disappointed in [Black superstar] Mookie Betts in particular. Doesnt every player and executive on a team have equal responsibility for their decision to go or not to go to visit a controversial president in the White House? Betts was the one that I thought would be most likely to speak out first and then hed bring other players along with him. Hes sort of the moral leader of the team. After George Floyd was killed he got the team, white and Black, not [to] play for a game. And what theyre all saying is, Im doing this for the team, but theres a bigger team called America or a bigger team called society. And theyre playing under a fascist president, and I would hope that people that have a public platform like Major League Baseball players would speak out. Danny Feingold, Capital & Main language at top of story: This piece was originally published by Capital & Main, which reports from California on economic, political, and social issues.
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