HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Economists are concerned that President Trump’s bold move to impose tariffs on three of its trading partners may lead to a damaging trade war.

The president said he was imposing the tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, saying in part that it’s in retaliation for them sending drugs and illegal immigrants to America.

“We have big deficits with, as you know, all three of them,” Trump said. “And in one case they’re sending massive amounts of fentanyl, killing hundreds of thousands of people a year with the fentanyl, and in the other two cases they’re making it possible for this poison to get in.”

Trump said a 25% tariff will go into effect Saturday on goods imported from Canada and Mexico, with a 10% tariff on goods from China.

Those tariffs will have an impact on goods here in Hawaii.

“The U.S. buys an enormous amount of product, particularly in the winter, from Mexico. And that’s the kind of thing where those prices will go up quite quickly,” said Carl Bonham of the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization.

Bonham said the tariffs won’t be paid by Mexico, Canada or China. They’ll be paid by businesses that import goods from those countries. And part of that cost will be passed along to consumers.

“So the tariffs are taking effect tomorrow (Saturday). So my understanding is anything ordered from then on, you’re going to see a price increase for when the next shipments come into Hawaii,” said Tina Yamaki, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii.

“No one knows whether these tariffs will be in place for a day, you know, a week, a month, six months, permanently. And so it makes it really, really tough for people to make businesses decisions,” said Bonham.

If you’re buying lumber or paper products in Hawaii, it likely comes from Canada and will be subject to the 25% tariff.

“You know that’s gonna get passed on,” said Bonham. “A portion of it is going to get passed on to builders and, you know Home Depots and Lowe’s in the U.S. pretty quickly.”

“Paper products, whether it’s the package for food products or even regular p-aper bags, those are going to go up in price, too,” said Yamaki.

She also said the tariff on Chinese goods will have a larger impact in Hawaii.

“What a lot of people don’t realize is, China is a manufacturer of a lot of the goods that come to Hawaii, whether it’s clothing or shoes. They export a lot of food items to Hawaii as well.”

Trump also threatened to impose tariffs on Mexico and Canada during his first term, but those were averted after negotiations.

Now, retailers are bracing for increased costs that will impact your wallet if the new tariffs take effect for a long period of time.

“We’re anticipating everything’s going to go up,” said Yamaki. “People are going to tighten their budgets.”