Right now, almost everything about the U.S. economy is uncertain, especially how high prices can go. With the Trump administration’s tariffs sparking retaliation from major trade partners, consumers are wondering how much they will be impacted.
Most Americans seem to be feeling high economic anxiety right now, as questions remain unanswered and the president continues his tit-for-tat tariff negotiation style.
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President Donald Trump has claimed that the costs of eggs and groceries in general are falling, but experts continue to predict that they will increase.
With no end in sight to the uncertainty that continues to cast dark clouds over the U.S. economy, one word that is likely on many people’s minds is inflation. Some experts are already sounding warning bells that Trump’s tariffs will lead to inflation in the coming months. Billionaire Mark Cuban recently issued a particularly disturbing take on where he sees the U.S. economy going.
Mark Cuban recently issued a grim prediction for where the U.S. economy is headed, even post-tariffs.
Image source: Travis P. Ball/Getty Images
Mark Cuban sees dark days ahead for US consumers
Best known for his years as a judge on “Shark Tank,” Cuban has recently focused primarily on Cost Plus Drugs, his public-benefit pharmaceutical company. But his social media channels feature plenty of scathing takes on Trump’s policies and in some cases, advice for how key matters should be handled.
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Cuban hasn’t held back when sharing his concerns with the world. In April 2024, he posted to Bluesky that consumers should start panic buying items such as toothpaste and soap, advising them to stock up at local big box retailers such as Walmart.
That type of advice might seem grim enough. But since then, Cuban has doubled down on ominous predictions, forecasting some extremely difficult times ahead, due primarily to the tariffs. On May 8, he posted to Bluesky in response to a post stating that the tariffs would lead to “empty shelves, an economic slowdown, and layoffs,” despite Trump’s claims.
Adding his own take, Cuban emphasized just how much worse things could get from here, a scenario he seems to see as being increasingly likely.
“To make matters worse, importers are leaving inventory in China ports,” he stated. “Waiting for tariffs to be lowered. If they are lowered enough, there will be a crush to ship them here and transport them when they get here. That will drive transportation costs way up.”
Cuban also noted that these policies would lead to higher inflation following the tariffs. Previously, he had posted about the developing rivalry that he saw between Trump and Elon Musk, the president’s close advisor, who had advocated against tariffs.
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Noting the extremely high stakes for the American people in that battle, Cuban noted that, as he saw it, it seemed likely that President Trump would come out on top, an unfortunate outcome for many people.
That prediction seems to be panning out, particularly as Musk has implied he may be stepping away from his role on Capitol Hill in the fairly near future.
Cuban’s argument is supported by many experts
Cuban is by no means the only person to predict that more tariffs will lead to higher inflation. Despite Trump’s claims about lower prices, tariffs are “simply inflation, as Bradley Saunders, a North America economist at Capital Economics, recently noted.
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A report from Deloitte’s Economics Insider broke it down even further, highlighting the short-term effects that the tariffs are likely to pose, stating, “In the near term, these tariffs will likely raise inflation without increasing domestic production. This, in turn, may slow the pace of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve (Fed) even if the inflation turns out to be transitory.”
The prospect of tariffs pushing up transportation costs, as Cuban noted, though, is not so commonly discussed by economists or international trade experts.
However, it is an important factor to consider as consumers assess the many factors that could contribute to the looming price increases that economists believe are coming.
As Cuban predicted, Trump may have triumphed over Musk in the trade war, but that only means that for most people, things are only going to get worse as the prices of essential goods continue to rise.
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