A Wave Of Panic Buying Has Suddenly Erupted At Retailers All Over America April 10, 2025 by Michael Snyder
Do you remember the panic buying that we witnessed during the early days of the pandemic? It’s back, and I have a feeling that it is only going to intensify in the days ahead. As more Americans begin to realize that products made in China will soon more than double in price and that some may no longer be available at all, there will be a feverish rush to purchase Chinese-made goods. Ironically, this may actually give a short-term boost to the U.S. economy, and the economic numbers for the first half of this year may end up looking better than they otherwise would have.
Before I get too deep into this article, there are a couple of things that I want to clarify.
First of all, I do not think that the U.S. should have ever begun trading with communist China at all, because communist China has always been an incredibly evil regime.
Secondly, it was a catastrophic error for the U.S. to become so deeply dependent on imports from China. This is something that I have been writing about for years. Our stores are now teeming with products that were made in China, and thousands of our supply chains simply cannot function without equipment, parts or products that come from China.
But our leaders refused to listen to those of us that were sounding the alarm, and now we have a real mess on our hands.
Because we have become so deeply dependent on China, the trade war that has now begun is really going to hurt, and everyone should be able to see that.
On Thursday, the White House confirmed that the total tariff rate on Chinese imports has now risen to 145 percent…
The U.S. tariff rate on Chinese imports now effectively totals 145%, a White House official confirmed to CNBC.
Trump’s latest executive order hikes tariffs on Beijing to 125% from 84%.
But that comes on top of a 20% fentanyl-related tariff that Trump previously imposed on China.
One economist is warning that high tariff rates on both sides will lead to “a hard decoupling”, and he says that it would be “really hard to overstate the expected shocks this is going to have”…
“This is probably the strongest indication we’ve seen pushing towards a hard decoupling,” said Nick Marro, principal economist for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit, referring to an outcome where the two economies have virtually no trade or mutual investment.
“It’s really hard to overstate the expected shocks this is going to have, not just to the Chinese economy itself, but also to the entire global trading landscape,” as well as on the US, he said.
I fully agree with his assessment.
What we are witnessing is going to cause a tremendous amount of disruption.
Apparently lots of other people see things the same way, because a wave of panic buying has now started…
Across the country, people have been rushing to stores or going online to buy everything from iPhones to coffee to designer bags and jewelry in anticipation of the toll the tariffs will take on their wallets.
If there is something that is made in China that you really need, I would get it now while you still can.
One woman that just visited her local Costco said that she has “never seen it so busy”…
Costco was a total nightmare yesterday. I’ve never seen it so busy. I walked out after seeing the lines going down each aisle with no end in sight.
Another woman that lives in New York City admitted to a reporter that her mother is literally “panicking”…
“Actually, I already have. I’ve already started stocking up. My mother has a whole stockpile, and she’s panicking. But I told her we’re going to be okay, as we live in New York City,” said Amelia Guilford, a retail worker who was visiting her mother in the city.
The price hikes that we will soon see will be quite a shock to the system, and this will particularly be true for big ticket items.
For example, it is being projected that the cost to manufacture an iPhone could go up by hundreds of dollars…
Trump’s new tariffs on Chinese goods mean the cost for Apple to manufacture an iPhone could jump from $580 to $850, according to a report from TechInsights.
In anticipation of the coming price hikes, there was a “full-blown buying spree” at Apple stores over the weekend…
Apple just faced a weekend retail frenzy more typical of iPhone launch day than early April. With the Trump administration floating a 54% tariff on Chinese-made goods including Apple’s flagship devices U.S. consumers rushed into stores, fearing sharp price hikes were imminent. According to reports from multiple locations, sales surged as worried buyers sought to lock in current prices, turning what’s usually a quiet season into a full-blown buying spree.
Many of the parts that go into our new vehicles also come from China, and it is being reported that U.S. auto sales were quite a bit higher than expected last month as people rushed to purchase new vehicles before the tariffs were implemented…
US auto sales for March came in higher than Deutsche Bank analysts expected, the bank said in a Friday report, rising from February levels. That might indicate “panic buying” as Americans sought to get ahead of the tariffs on foreign-made vehicles that took effect last week.
The analysts said they had expected higher numbers due to a pre-tariff pull-forward. But “this impact appears far greater than we anticipated,” the report read. Deutsche Bank expected auto sales to be strong through June, then weaken in the back half of the year.
Unless the U.S. and China can reach some sort of an agreement, and that appears very unlikely at this stage, our standard of living is about to change dramatically.
According to CNBC, approximately 70 percent of the goods sold on Amazon come from China…
Many sellers on Amazon count on China for manufacturing and assembly due to lower costs and established infrastructure – up to 70% of goods on Amazon come from China, according to Wedbush Securities. With nearly all imports from China being taxed a staggering 145% under the latest tariffs, Amazon sellers are having to decide whether to raise prices or absorb the vastly increased cost of importing their goods.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Thursday told CNBC that its vast network of third-party sellers will likely “pass the cost on” to consumers. He added that Amazon has done some “strategic forward inventory buys” and looked to renegotiate terms on some purchase orders to keep prices low.
Reuters spoke to five Amazon sellers in China. Three of them said that they would be raising prices, and two of them said that they would be leaving the U.S. market completely…
Of the five sellers who spoke to Reuters, three said they would look to raise prices for their exports to the U.S., while two planned to leave the market entirely.
Dave Fong, whose products range from schoolbags to Bluetooth speakers, said on Thursday he has raised prices in the U.S. by up to 30% and would let inventory levels fall and lower spending on Amazon advertising fees, which once took up 40% of his U.S. revenue.
“For us and anyone else, you can’t rely on the U.S. market, that’s quite clear,” Fong said. “We have to reduce investment, and put more resources into regions like Europe, Canada, Mexico and the rest of the world.”
If this trade war persists, it will be an even bigger economic shock than the pandemic was.
But to me, there is potentially an even bigger concern.
The threat of economic sanctions has always been one of the barriers that has made China think twice about invading Taiwan.
But now that our two economies are rapidly decoupling anyway, the Chinese may come to the conclusion that this is actually a perfect time to make a move on Taiwan.
This crisis with China is a far bigger deal than most people realize, and it could have some very serious unintended consequences.
First, Trump has given an exemption to Smart phones, computers and chips.
2nd, almost everything else can be had from other manufacturers and the quality is better, more value for the dollar.
3rd, the important stuff like food and energy typically doesn't come from China at all.
This trade war is going to be a big nothing burger to the American consumer and devastating to China.
Your not kidding. I needed a good fly swatter last year and all I could find was crap with very soft steel. Older made in america ones are 10x better.
It would only cost a few penny's more to make a good one,but they just don't care.
Ah, but when you're selling millions of widgets and you're saving a few pennies on each one, it quickly adds up for the overlords.
That was true 50 and 100 years ago.
But we had competition and someone else would make a better product.
Now we have no competition. It's all the same crap,made in the same Chinese factory. They probably even make good shit for themselves....
A hard decoupling from China is likely the plan all along. I'm sure President Trump has calculated what we can live with and without from China. Sooner, rather than later, we will be free from our unhealthy dependency upon them. Good riddance, its worth some short term pain.
Demand sellers Publish the Country of Origin with the item bing sold!
Funny in the second paragraph you said "error" when we all know it was a on purpose. Let us realize the enemy is sometimes domestic.
Not my comment, M. Snyder from his blog. Copy/paste
You are right. I think traitors in our own government let this happen. China was simply taking advantage of the offer.
I've seen people seemingly panic buying but some of the items aren't made in China. If you're going to panic buy because of the tariffs at least look at the labels!
Costco seems to be the barometer of our PTSD from the lockdowns. In the recent past there has been the rush before the Truck strike, the Railroad strike, and The Great Depression 2. And I know I'm missing some others.
I hear the experts on both sides, patriot and woke, including ultra-doomers (who don't trust Trump) and ultra-wokers (don't trust Kamala). In my mind, these are the 4-views/sides I'm noticing.
I've heard the same arguments, the same examples from history. We're going into war. There is going to be a shortage of _________ (fill in the blank).
I have mellowed out on the hype (from the 4 sides). I don't react so quick to the news, because things are changing so rapidly. And everything is different now. What is happening now is different than what has happened/been allowed the last 100 years or so.
The deep state had control and used events to further their agenda. For instance WW1 to bring on WW2 to bring on more and more war...
But now, does the deep state have the same control? It looks like their power is dwindling and everything they try has less and less of an effect.
The things that Trump seems to do is different than anyone else has done. His agenda is different. And the results change so quickly. I don't think the regular "Orange is Bad!", and the regular "Watcher on the Gate" pundits are able to keep up or to make accurate predictions.
I find it interesting that both sides actually have a slim slice of views in common: become more self-sufficient, buy less stuff. Save money. Don't replace items so fast, use them up. Choose better quality items, garden, etc, etc. The same views from a blue-haired to a MAGA. Interesting times.
That said, our reliance on China goods is terrible and never should have happened. Didn't we learn from the supply problems during and after the lockdowns what a mistake it was to rely on many of our parts from overseas?
You couldn’t prove it in my part of the country. The stores I visited this week had full shelves and few customers.
I think Trump has excluded electronics. Phones. Computers.
yes, and chips.
China, who sold the US poison infant formula and pet food, among other things.
I think any price increases will be temporary until we find another source (like maybe from our own country).
"Panic" is for retards
I have everything i need
WalMart is in trouble.
The goal is fair trade deals with China, and others. If China wants to be a bitch about it, then we're going to do this the hard way. Either way, it will happen- because it needs to happen. American manufacturing, and energy must be able to supply American consumers, period. And, that cannot happen if we continue to allow unfair trade deals with foreign nations.
Let the spoiled yankee consumer cry, and lament over the dread of paying $2000 for a portable telephone (iphone) instead of $1200. Oh, cry me a river.
To observe the result of 'tariffs' to an energy-independent & high labor-skill economy, just observe Russia.
Sanctions are essentially tariffs with an infinite percentage.
The result is massive Russian industrial advance. They build everything themselves, including chips. They have new fabs. They have plentiful energy. They build their own ships, airplanes, rockets, space stations, nuclear power plants, construction material, etc etc etc.
'Tariffs' are step 1 to the industrial revival of the US which is a necessity to break out of the centralization/totalitarianism of the single-supplier trap (Chinese crap).
But by itself is not enough, because the COST of making stuff in the US is still enormous, due to the 'health insurance' racket.
That racket MUST be the next one to be broken, or we'll get nowhere with the reindustrialization. Parasitic costs to the economy, of which 'health insurance' is the biggest one, MUST disappear.
Agreed. Lots of regulation's, license fees, insurance scams, etc. need to be bulldozed to properly empower American self-reliance.
My android cost 80 bucks..but I'm a minimalist
For about 10 years (in the 90's) my husband and I would buy only products made in the USA. We gave up because after a while we couldn't find things we needed unless they came from another country.
I've been panic buying as well... GME & silver.
People still using all that Toilet Paper , take a breath people everything will be fine and the quality will be better.
Goods will never be as cheap as those made by slave labor in foreign countries, but goods shouldn't be that cheap. That's the reality of it, unless we want to cheapen ourselves.