By Times of San Diego

Two members of the San Diego congressional delegation said in a press conference Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s tariffs will impact the average San Diego household – and not in a big, beautiful way.

Representatives Scott Peters and Sara Jacobs said local households can expect to absorb a nearly $2,400 hit this year due to higher costs as tariffs are assessed on foreign goods.

The levies, they said in a news release, have raised prices for businesses and consumers on everything from cars to food to housing construction materials, and now back to school supplies.  That’s not to mention job impacts – U.S. Department of Labor’s data shows that 14,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since Trump announced tariffs in April, they added.

In short, said Peters and Jacobs, tariffs are creating “economic chaos.”

“We need to be very clear about what tariffs do to our businesses, consumers and our economy,” Peters said. “Tariffs are a tax that our businesses pay, which increases prices for Americans already struggling with the cost of living. I’ll keep pushing back on President Trump’s harmful tariffs that are making America weaker, not ‘great again.’”  

As part of the event, Peters invited business and trade leaders from around San Diego to share how tariffs are affecting foreign investments in local businesses, costs for small businesses and the job market.

Chris Cate from the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, Nikia Clarke from the World Trade Center, Michael Farrington with Corza Medical, Dan Clark with Dan Clark Audio and Brian Miller with Geppettos Toys took part.

Leaders in Washington, said Cate, a former member of the San Diego City Council, need “to protect the partnership between the U.S. and Mexico, not tax it.”

“Tariffs hurt our regional economy. They cost jobs, reduce investment, raise prices for families, and undermine the cross-border economic engine that helps make our region the best place to live and work and a model of binational cooperation,” said Cate, now president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce.

Clarke, executive director of World Trade Center San Diego, the international team at the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp., pointed out that the average U.S. tariff rate has risen from around two percent to about 18%.

While that has been a boon for the Department of the Treasury – according to NPR, in July the government saw a windfall of more than $29 billion in “customs and excise taxes,” a segment based mostly on tariff revenue – business are paying the price, Clarke said.

“These new taxes on imports will have significant impacts on businesses, on prices and on consumers. The long-term impacts of this new tariff regime on jobs and supply chains are even more critical,” she explained. “Rising tariffs make it harder for our companies to compete abroad—especially the 95 percent of regional exporters that are small businesses.”

In early August, Trump announced new tariffs on more than 90 countries, including the nation’s top three trading partners – China, Canada and, key for San Diego, Mexico. Tariffs range from 10 percent on the United Kingdom and Australia, to 50 percent on Brazil and India.

One small businessman, Clark, the CEO of Dan Clark Audio – he’s proud to note that his firm “has always manufactured in San Diego” – said the recent tariffs “are putting our entire export business at risk.” Parts, he said, “now cost 50% more than any other manufacturer of headphones would pay for the same component.

“As a small business, we can’t just absorb the cost of tariffs, so we will have to raise our prices,” Clark continued. “Instead of helping us as a U.S. manufacturer, tariffs may well cripple our export business.”