OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — There are pros and cons to tariffs, says UNO management professor, Ahn Ta.
- Tariffs create uncertainty for businesses, especially when policies keep changing.
- In the long run, corporations might move more manufacturing to the United States, but it will take several years to get those plants up and running.
- Tariffs generally mean higher prices for consumers.
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BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
What might Nebraskans and Iowans expect from this latest round of Trump administration tariffs.
I'm your neighborhood reporter Katrina Markel in central Omaha
And I'm speaking with a UNO professor about what might be coming down the road for our neighbors.
Omaha business professor, Ahn Ta says, tariffs create a lot of uncertainty for businesses, which they don't like.
Some manufacturers, he told me, will have planned for tariffs and imported supplies ahead of time. That means prices might not go up immediately. But, If the tariffs are more permanent, ordinary people will pay.
"Our costs, for sure, the car price for the new car, will increase,” Ta said. “The tariff — like 25% — but the corporate tax reduced to like 10%, for example. So, the company can absorb some price increase from the tariff.”
Ta told me if the tariffs stay put for year, companies might build more plants in the United States, but it takes at least three years to get a lot of manufacturing plants up and running and the United States isn't the cheapest place to manufacture, so corporations would have to innovate as well as rely on automation to improve costs.
