Tucson businesses brace for potential impact of tariffs

By Blake Phillips

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    TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A trade war is brewing between the United States and Canada, Mexico and China.

And the question on everyone’s mind, how is it going to affect your wallet?

In Tucson, locally owned businesses like Parker Automotive source their products from distributors.

“It’s more of what they can get for us. We haven’t seen it yet, so much in the parts yet, the parts availability and the pricing,” says Scott Murtaugh a service advisor at Parker Automotive, “but if tariffs stay in place, we’re going to see a parts price increase, without a doubt.”

Murtaugh says they have seen prices tick up on things like latex gloves and wire connectors.

But the worry right now is, how will this affect the price of car parts, and in turn, how will it drive up repair costs.

“If our costs go up, it’ll have to be passed to the consumer,” says Murtaugh.

President Trump put a one month pause on the tariff for car manufacturers. But that still leaves uncertainty when it comes to auto parts.

If the tariffs resume on cars, Murtaugh thinks that may lead to more people opting to use repair shops more instead of selling old cars to buy a new one.

“I think, if the car prices go up. So is the cost to repair your car, but the repair of the car is still less and far less than buying a new car,” says Murtaugh.

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