Gary Cohn, former chief economic advisor to President Donald Trump, has warned that American consumers will begin to feel the impact of global tariffs imposed by the Trump administration starting in late May.
Now serving as Vice Chairman of IBM, Cohn explained during an interview on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday, April 27, that the supply chain timeline for goods shipped from major Asian manufacturing hubs to the United States is approximately eight weeks.
“When an item is sold in China, loaded onto a ship, transported across the ocean, offloaded in the U.S., processed at a facility, and finally stocked on store shelves, that entire process takes about eight weeks,” he said.
Cohn predicted that in the short term, U.S. consumers may engage in ‘pre-loading’ — making early purchases to avoid price hikes driven by tariffs. However, he cautioned that the U.S. economy may weaken as these tariffs take full effect in Q2 2025, potentially placing upward pressure on inflation.
In a previous appearance on Face the Nation in September 2024, Cohn had already pointed out that tariffs could spark inflation because the U.S. imports many high-demand products it does not manufacture domestically.
“We need these products available on shelves when consumers walk into the store,” Cohn said. “If we start taxing them, we will see inflation.”
Source: VASEP