The United States' tariff hikes will raise prices of goods domestically, ultimately inflating living costs for American consumers, according to a senior executive of Drewry, a world-renowned British shipping consulting company.
Drewry enjoys significant global influence, with its container freight index and industry analysis reports serving as a barometer for the global shipping market.
"Imposing tariffs where there is no domestic industry, all that does is increase costs for US consumers. So probably this will lead to inflation in the U.S. and reduce U.S. consumer demand," said Tim Power, general manager of Drewry, on Wednesday in Hamburg, Germany.
Power also emphasized that that barriers to free trade are a hindrance to the world economy and to the healthy development of countries.
"Free trade is beneficial to all of humanity. Abuse of free trade by anybody has to be stopped and we see that with the U.S. We may have seen anti-competitive practices from other countries, but what we do know is that free trade lifts people out of poverty and it is therefore a global good," Power said.
US tariff hikes to raise living costs for American consumers: expert
