Americans Putting Off Major Purchases Due To Tariffs: NielsenIQ
NielsenIQ has kicked off a four-part study on how Americans and Canadians feel about tariffs, establishing a baseline with a survey conducted before President Donald Trump’s April 2 tariff announcement.
Nearly 5,000 U.S. consumers and 5,000 Canadian consumers were queried from March 25-31, with the sample including English, Spanish and French speakers. The report found that half of Americans and 87% of Canadians were not in favor of tariffs even before any impact from the policy was felt. Most consumers from both countries predicted that tariffs would hurt the economy this year and that the effects would remain negative for the next three years.
Consumers were most concerned about tariffs impacting the price of fresh produce, eggs and poultry, and less worried about cost increases for soft drinks, salty snacks and cosmetics. Canadians were almost twice as likely as Americans to seek to offset the impact by buying domestic products, with only 11% saying they would probably or definitely buy U.S. products in the future, compared to 91% saying they’d shop Canadian manufacturers. Americans were more likely to react by putting off a major purchase like a car, home or furniture. Few consumers from either country were rushing to make significant purchases now for fear of paying more.
“We were a bit surprised that consumers were much more likely to put off, rather than speed up, a major purchase,” NIQ North America director of consumer behavior and insights Jason Boyd said in a statement. “NIQ will continue to watch this trend, but based on consumer sentiment alone, there are headwinds for sales of larger-ticket items.”
The study will be followed by reports in June, September and December to chronicle how perceptions change over time and impact shopping behavior during the summer, back-to-school season and lead-up to the holidays.
