Kerra Bolton

Sat, May 31, 2025, 2:01 PM4 min read

As tariffs impact global trade routes, some consumers worry that store shelves could soon resemble the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic — bare and unpredictable, and possibly hard on the budget.

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Earlier this year, a growing number of U.S. consumers said they were stockpiling goods in anticipation of rising prices.

“I’m buying double of whatever — beans, canned goods, flour, you name it,” Thomas Jennings, a shopper in New Jersey, told a Reuters reporter as he prepared for potential price hikes and shortages.

While prices have dominated recent headlines, delays in shipping and customs backlogs are quietly creating stock shortages in key sectors. And, although President Donald Trump’s tariffs were recently declared unlawful by the Court of International Trade, they were quickly temporarily reinstated. The Trump administration is also pushing back in an attempt to implement the tariffs, leaving their fate unknown for now.

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Shane Lucado, founder and CEO of InPerSuit Inc., a legal technology company, said consumers should watch for signals in logistics contracts and freight indexes.

“When companies start renegotiating delivery terms mid-year, something big is shifting,” Lucado said. “Freight delays plus tariff spikes mean manufacturers hedge risk by cutting supply. That ripples into job cuts, stock adjustments and vendor shakeups.”

Josh Fischer, vice president of product strategy at Cin7, an inventory management platform, said Chinese imports will be hit the hardest.

“This is going to impact several specific industries, such as electronics, apparel, footwear, auto parts, toys, and sporting goods,” Fischer said. “The good news is that these aren’t the types of products consumers are buying every day. But this will impact seasonal spikes in purchases.”

Baby furniture and European goods are current examples of accessible but vulnerable inventory.

“Purchasing baby furniture is the smartest move right now,” said Johanna Bialkin, CEO of Aldea Home & Baby. “Gliders, cribs and dressers, especially from Europe, are still in stock and still at a good value right now. We are expecting the tariffs in the EU to drive up demand and pricing.”