‘No idea why’: Aussies are struggling to understand tariffs

Donald Trump’s latest decision on tariffs has sent shockwaves around the world, but there is a big part of the move that Aussies just can’t seem to understand.

US President Donald Trump has slapped Australia with a 10 per cent “reciprocal” tariff, and if you’re expecting fury from Aussies, think again.

There’s less outrage and more “what are they?”

If you’ve heard a lot of noise about tariffs but are unsure what is actually happening, a tariff is a tax that a government imposes on goods imported from another country.

Australia makes billions of dollars exporting goods to the US, and the new tax will hit some industries pretty hard.

The 10 per cent tariffs are expected to impact Australia’s meat industry; last year, we shipped $4 billion worth of meat to the US.

Our other prominent exports are pearls, metals, pharmaceutical products and electrical equipment.

Mr Trump has announced a 90-day “pause” on higher tariffs charged to some nations, which will be lowered to 10 per cent — but’s that unlikely to affect Australia, which had already been slapped with 10 per cent tariffs.

US President Donald Trump has slapped Australia with a 10 per cent ‘reciprocal’ tariff. Picture: Mandel NGAN / AFP

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already called Trump’s tariffs ‘unwarranted’. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire

MORE: Aussies to get $5k back amid US tariffs

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already called Trump’s tariffs “unwarranted” and recently told reporters that as a nation, “we cannot control what challenges we face,” but we can choose how to respond.

“Australia will always respond by defending our national interest,” he promised.

The concern is that it will push up the prices of everyday groceries as the extra costs flow onto Aussie shoppers.

It has been one of Australia’s biggest news stories, but when news.com.au hit the streets of Sydney’s Inner West, the outrage wasn’t quite there.

People were concerned, confused and definitely not happy about it, but there certainly wasn’t blind panicking or anyone threatening to stockpile mince.

In fact, when Aussies were asked, “What is a tariff?”, the majority of people took a moment to collect their thoughts.

It was definitely a situation in which people kind of knew what they were but also hadn’t spent heaps of time thinking about it.

MORE: $115bn wiped: Trump’s rich listers hefty fall

“Argh …. It is like a charge?” one woman in a blazer said.

She became more confident as she spoke and explained that it is a charge added to an import or export.

The woman then admitted she found it slightly confusing because, despite all the yapping about it, she “wonders” how it’ll actually impact her.

When asked if the whole thing made her worried, she shrugged.

“I guess so? Maybe we could end up in some kind of trade war,” she theorised.

Although, the idea of an all-out war didn’t seem to concern her too much either.

Another young woman, wearing a statement hat, said that she didn’t “really” know what tariffs were.

When pressed, she attempted to come up with an answer.

“Something to do with banking?” she guessed.

Nope.

Aussies were weighing in. Picture: news.com.au

There was some confusion. Picture: news.com.au

One Aussie bloke stopped, and even removed his giant headphones, to discuss tariffs but his understanding of them was a bit blurry.

“Those things that make iPhones really expensive?” he said.

I mean kind of, but not really … but go on.

“I don’t actually really know,” he said.

Was he worried about these unknown tariffs? Isn’t there a theory that we always fear what we don’t understand?

Well, not in this case.

“They don’t know where I live. I’m not scared of them,” he said.

Do his mates talk about them?

“Nah, nah, not yet,” he said.

A teacher stopped and explained that a tariff is an extra 10 per cent tax being slapped on some exports, which is right, but even he doubted his own explanation.

“Is that right?” he asked.

He then admitted that, even though he understands, most young people don’t know what is happening.

“I get a lot of kids telling me answers that aren’t quite right,” he said.

Of course, they do have the excuse that they’re children, though.

Young people shared that they ‘kind of’ understood. Picture: news.com.au

The question revealed Aussies aren’t so sure. Picture: news.com.au

Meanwhile, another young woman stopped to chat and admitted she “kind of” understood what a tariff was.

“It is like a tax on goods but I have no idea why,” she said.

She said that feels “a little bit silly” for not having a comprehensive understanding of what is happening, but at least she didn’t just think it had to do with banking.

Similarly, another young girl said she “kind of” understands what tariffs are and then had a good crack at explaining.

“Best guess would be a financial penalty,” she said.

She elaborated and added that it is about exports being taxed more, which is correct, but she admitted she’s still not sure why it matters.

“Like … how is impacting me?” she asked.

financial expert Richard Whitten said ‘aftershocks’ of the tariffs would be felt in Australia. Picture: iStock

Finder’s financial expert, Richard Whitten, said that Australia is bound to feel the “aftershock” of these new tariffs.

“For the average Aussie, the most immediate worry often boils down to the hip pocket – if the cost of imported goodies starts to climb, that’s just another squeeze on household budgets that are already feeling the pinch,” he said.

“From electronics to clothes, a lot of what we buy comes from overseas, so price hikes there can translate to higher costs at the checkout here.”

Mr Whitten added that Australia is in a fairly good position, at least compared to other countries.

“Australia is definitely less exposed to US consumer goods than many countries. We may even see products intended for the US ending up on our shores for cheaper as companies look for new markets outside the US,” he said.

“The main danger is a global economic downturn and how that affects the Australian economy.”