Holiday shopping season kicks off with worry over tariffs’ impact on gift prices

With Thanksgiving in the rear view mirror the holiday shopping season kicked off on Black Friday with shoppers heading out early in hopes of scoring deals It might be the season of sales but the deals might seem smaller than before with tariffs potentially impacting the most of popular gifts This could lead to a record holiday season for spending but with shoppers getting less bang for their buck The impact of tariffs experts predict will make this the first trillion dollar holiday shopping season The uncomfortable reality of it all is that the sort of things that we want this Christmas or in past Christmases is stuff that is no longer produced in the United States disclosed David Bieri Associate Professor of Economics at Virginia Tech A popular segment of items purchased during the holidays toys are one of the bulk impacted by President Trump s tariffs The Toy Association disclosed roughly percent of all toys sold in this country are manufactured in China It s unclear exactly how much of an impact the tariffs will have but experts expect prices to increase They also mentioned certain tech and toy manufacturers are making changes to trim their costs like removing batteries which now would need to be purchased separately