NPR Shopping Cart Economics: How Prices Changed At A Walmart In 1 Year
NPR is tracking about 80 items sold at a Walmart in Georgia, since mid-2018 with an eye toward products caught in the trade war. On average, their prices increased 3%. Tariffs are one of many factors.
Shoppers beware. That warning has come from economists ever since the trade war with China began last year. Eventually, they said, the fight between the two economic superpowers will hit regular Americans with higher prices at the cash register. The tariffs will bite.
Already some things are costing more. But the impact of the tariffs is uneven.
In August 2018, NPR began tracking how those tariffs might trickle down to shoppers at the world's largest retail store chain — Walmart. Since then, every few months, we've checked prices of about 80 products at one Walmart in Liberty County, Ga., with tariffs in mind.
After one year, some prices in NPR's basket of goods
