Charlene and Phil Willingham had been thinking for a while about replacing the 20-year-old appliances in their kitchen, but with the sudden prospect of rising costs, they decided that this was the moment. The Willinghams, both retired, turned up at a store in the suburbs of Chicago on Friday with a long shopping list: stove, refrigerator, microwave oven and dishwasher.
“We were going to take our time to get new appliances, but now because of these tariffs, I want to get them before any price increases take place,” Ms. Willingham, 64, said while shopping at the Abt Electronics store in Glenview, Ill. Of the Trump administration’s sweeping announcement of tariffs across the globe last week, she said, “It sort of set the fire.”
In grocery stores, car dealerships, malls and big discount chains around the country, interviews with more than two dozen Americans this weekend showed that many were racing to figure out how to get ahead of the new tariffs plan, quickly making calculated purchases, big and small.
“The panic is enough to make me want to buy,” Shali Santos, 28, said, after stocking up on essentials in bulk — water, soap, mouthwash — at a Costco Wholesale store in Marina del Rey, a waterfront community in Los Angeles County, and noticing that many people around her seemed to be stocking up more than usual on similar staples.
Others said their shopping habits were unchanged by the tariffs announcement, largely because they had patience and trust in the president’s long game, and figured that any short-term pain, including potential cost hikes, would work itself out.
“I’m confident it will recover,” Gregg Harris, 61, said as he shopped for food at a Walmart in Nashville.
Nearly all, though, expressed lingering uncertainty about exactly how these tariffs — at least a 10 percent government surcharge on nearly all goods imported into the United States as well as higher rates on goods from many countries — would play out in their daily lives. How and when might prices be affected by President Trump’s moves? What items might be most hard hit? Even if they knew the answers to such questions, some asked, could they really afford purchasing big ticket items right now to avoid higher costs later?
“He’s doing a lot, which, I mean, that feels like a change, which can be refreshing,” said Mitchell Kwapick, 28, as he shopped for a nephew’s birthday gift at Target in suburban Milwaukee. “But it’s a lot of stuff that’s scary right now.”
The announcements of the tariffs quickly tanked global markets, dealing a blow to investment portfolios, and economists say many of the costs associated with the tariffs will be passed on to consumers. Supporters said the tariffs would ultimately bring jobs back in the United States, while opponents said they would upend the economy.
Among people interviewed at stores this weekend, levels of concern about rising prices — and new urgency to beat any effects of tariffs — seemed closely tied to partisan alliances.
At the Abt Electronics store in Glenview, where business was swift, Laura Papa, 44, came in with her family looking for a new wall oven and refrigerator.
“We were hoping to wait until the summer, but then this fiasco happened,” said Ms. Papa, an accountant who voted for Kamala Harris in November. She said that she viewed tariffs as likely to wreck the nation’s economy and offered advice to others browsing in the store: “You better get stuff before the price increases come.”
In Marina del Rey, Tamela Plaine, who also works as an accountant and voted for Ms. Harris, said she began to worry about tariffs immediately after Mr. Trump was elected, and rushed out to buy a Hyundai S.U.V. before he took office to avoid rising prices.
After the tariffs were announced last week, Ms. Plaine, 48, said she felt compelled to shop in bulk for a wide range of items at Costco in case their price tags started rising. But she said she also was hemmed in by circumstances that many Americans may be facing: a sense that the costs of ordinary items already are too high and that front-loading big expenses now is not affordable.
“I did panic when I got in there,” Ms. Plaine said of her urge to stock up as much as possible while at Costco. “But I was just like, I have to calm down, because I’m still check-to-check.”
Ms. Plaine said her worries about budgeting and rising costs have even led her to lose sleep in recent days. “I try not to freak out,” she said.
But many shoppers who had voted for Mr. Trump said they were not adjusting their buying habits at all based on tariffs.
“I love them,” Dixon Witherspoon, 66, said of tariffs as he shopped for an oven lightbulb at a Target in Nashville. “The problem with America is everybody is worried about their quarterly stock report and everything is short-term vision, which is not good for anything.”
Mr. Witherspoon, a retired executive in the insurance sector who said his own stock portfolio had seen significant losses, said he expects tariffs to enhance the nation’s manufacturing independence and make a fairer playing field for U.S. businesses. “Tariffs are going to be painful in the short run, but in the long run, they are going to be wonderful,” he said.
In Milwaukee, J.J. Kennedy, who said he strongly supports President Trump, said he did not expect his shopping habits to shift following the launching of tariffs.
Mr. Kennedy, who owns an architectural design company and was buying computer keyboards at a Best Buy, acknowledged that tariffs had sparked concern and confusion in the construction industry, and that new home prices could be affected.
Still, he did not expect it to matter.
“People are just going to pay the difference,” Mr. Kennedy, 45, said. “Inventory is so low around here, it’s unbelievable.”
Many shoppers said the prospect of tariffs simply added to anxiety about an already unforgiving economy. Even if prices had yet to surge, uncertainty about what was ahead and sudden declines to retirement savings accounts were worrying signs.
“Either directly or indirectly, everyone’s impacted — 401(k)s, my stocks have been impacted, my mother’s pension is being impacted, a lot of people’s investments are being impacted,” said Alonzo Beyene, the owner of a technology business who was shopping in Miami on Saturday morning.
In Milwaukee, Juanita Norris said her retirement account lost $8,000 in just two days.
“That’s $8,000 that could have gone toward a car for my kids,” she said.
She was planning to help them buy a car this spring, she said, but if prices rise, she will need to wait anyway.
Back at the appliance store in Illinois, the Willinghams studied a stainless steel six-burner stove.
Both Democrats, they contemplated the point of the tariffs.
“I don’t see how it benefited the American people,” Ms. Willingham said. “I really hope and pray things can be resolved soon.”
Mr. Willingham, 65, was more resigned: “It is what it is,” he said.
Robert Chiarito contributed reporting from Glenview, Ill., Mimi Dwyer from Los Angeles, Jamie McGee from Nashville, Dan Simmons from Milwaukee, and Verónica Zaragovia from Miami.
