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Boston Globe
05-08-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
Good news for back-to-school shoppers: Tariffs haven't hit prices — yet
Casey Wilkinson, an assistant principal at the Davis School in Brockton, has bought most of her son's school supplies online, and like Hall, she's got no complaints about tariffs. 'As of right now,' Wilkinson said, 'I haven't seen any sign of a dramatic increase in prices.' With back-to-school shopping in full swing, there's little evidence that the Trump administration's tariff campaign is weighing heavily on consumers. Advertisement Retail data indicates that prices are rising, but so far only modestly. And there's no sign of the shortages that many economists feared back when President Trump threatened tariffs of up to 145 percent on imports from China. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up On the contrary, Jon B. Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said his member retailers have plenty of everything, and not just for returning scholars. Hurst said that local stores have already laid in a lot of merchandise for the Christmas season as well. 'They're all set for back-to-school and most of them are all set for the holidays,' he said. Boston families are hardcore about back-to-school shopping. Advertisement But tariffs aren't pushing this number much higher, because wholesale prices for imports have not spiked. 'There's been some assumptions that suppliers and distributors would build in some price increases in anticipation, but that really hasn't been seen yet,' he said. 'They're really taking the risk upon themselves.' One reason for the good news: Trump's retreat from his April 2 'Liberation Day' plan, which would have imposed massive tariff increases on nearly every country in the world. Global markets plummeted after the plan was announced, and containers full of merchandise piled up at foreign ports, raising fears of empty shelves in US retail stores. Trump announced a few days later that he would put the most severe tariff increases on hold, though he still raised tariffs worldwide by 10 percent and for most Chinese products by 30 percent. Prior to the Liberation Day pause, US importers had slashed their orders, due to uncertainty about tariff costs, said Michael Goldman, general manager for North America at 'When that suspension was announced, everybody got off the sidelines,' said Goldman. Container ships stuffed with imports flocked to US ports, looking to land their cargoes before Trump changed his mind again. 'Whether it was on purpose or not,' said Goldman, the tariff pause 'allowed the supply chains to have moments to normalize themselves.' As a result, he said, 'I am not seeing any data that suggests there's going to be any big issue with supply.' Advertisement Still, the tariffs on these goods were substantially higher than before, and somebody's got to pay. But so far, consumers seem to be getting off easy. The Globe used data from For example, a student backpack that sold for $23.65 in July of 2024 was priced at $27.97 this year. Notebook paper that cost $5.99 last year was priced at $6.99 last week. An HP desktop computer monitor that cost $80 last year had increased in price to $107, and a West Bend dormitory-style mini-fridge that cost $150 last year had risen to $175. There were a few price drops as well. A Crayola art kit decreased from $18.29 last year to $16.55, and a pair of New Balance children's shoes declined from $49.95 to $29.95. This is a very small sample, and there's no way to link these price changes to the tariffs. But data from the Harvard Business School show that tariffs are nudging up the prices for many consumer goods. The HBS Pricing Lab's The researchers found that prices for imported products increased almost immediately whenever the Trump administration announced higher tariffs, like the worldwide 10 percent tariff imposed in April. Prices of domestic goods also rose along with the tariffs, though by a smaller amount. The Harvard researchers said many US manufacturers must themselves pay tariffs for imported equipment and supplies they can't get domestically. In turn, these companies pass their tariff costs to consumers. Advertisement But while retailers have been quick to raise prices, they're not raising them by much. The Tariff Tracker found that price increases for imports have averaged about 3 percent, much lower than the tariff increases. 'Tariffs are often expected to produce a one-time jump in price levels, but our data show that firms rarely pass through the full cost immediately,' said Harvard Business School professor Alberto Cavallo. 'Instead, they raise prices gradually, especially when there is uncertainty around how long the tariffs will last or how broad they will be.' But how long can this go on? Cavallo thinks that more of the tariff cost will gradually trickle down to consumers. 'We expect the passthrough to continue unfolding over time, keeping inflation elevated in certain categories for many months,' he said. But Hurst thinks bigger price hikes are months away. 'We're talking about 2026,' he said. 'If they go up, to the extent that they do, that's when we'll feel it.' Hiawatha Bray can be reached at
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
‘These classes are amazing': Brockton middle schoolers love vocational classes that are now offered
The high cost of college has many high school students interested in learning a trade these days. The pay is good in those fields and there are no loans to pay back. An innovative program in a Brockton middle school is now giving students a chance to sample different vocational opportunities at a younger age. In a culinary arts class at the Davis School, 8th graders recently assigned a project to make homemade waffles with real whipped cream and strawberries. 'It's different because we get to have fun and do work at the same time,' said student Zayden Cardoso. 'It's more opportunities to work with our friends.' Not only does it 'not' feel like work to these students. It doesn't even feel like a class. And that's the secret to the recipe in this class. 'It also involves math and measurement and reading,' said teacher Jennifer Baker. 'It involves a lot of parts of the curriculum into cooking. And it's science, too.' This is the Career and Technical Education program. It started last year and expanded this year. Teachers like Baker, who usually teaches English, volunteered to add this class to her workload. 'I was on board right away,' added Baker. 'I think it's a lot of fun.' A program like this isn't something that tends to take place in a middle school, but when Principal Darlene Campbell had a chance to launch it at the Davis School, she jumped at it. 'You see the difference in some of these youngsters because it's doing, it's hands on, it's getting into it, it's creating, and we're tapping into other parts of their brain which is just wonderful,' said Campbell. The program offers instruction in six areas: Culinary Arts Drones and Robotics Entrepreneurship Wood Working Photography Bridge Building Science teacher Steven Celia teaches bridge building. 'I love science. I have since I was a kid, and I want that love of science to be passed onto the other students.' Celia hopes a hands-on approach will lead some students into STEM fields. 'You can see their excitement when they say, wow, this works, or when it doesn't work, and they go wait a minute okay wait, what did I do wrong? How can I make it better? They could read about it in a book, but they're not going to be excited about it.' In general, the students are excited thinking about the future in a way they hadn't before. Lucas De Carvalho said, 'These classes are amazing. It teaches students lots of stuff, real life skills.' D'Anne Mendez added 'I feel like this class will be really for kid's futures.' That's what this is all about for Campbell. Opening students' eyes to choices they didn't even know existed. 'It says to kids, there's college and that's great, but there are vocations you might want to get involved in.' The demand for slots in the state's vocational high schools has been growing beyond the system's capacity. Governor Maura Healey recently filed a supplemental budget which includes money to create 3,000 additional seats over the next three years. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
