Tariff anxiety continues in North Carolina: for both manufacturers and consumers. New data from an Elon University poll shows Americans are concerned about the economy and tariffs. A local business owner in High Point echoed similar concerns. Samuel Fish owns Shield Security Doors in High Point, a bulletproof steel door manufacturing company. Fish said his business is just one of many having a hard time sourcing pieces they need to make their products, all due to tariffs."We source some of our bulletproof steel from Europe," Fish said. "Even with tariffs in place, the specialized bulletproof steel that we're getting from Europe is still less expensive than sourcing an equivalent here in the U.S."Reinforced steel doors are a product, he said is not as popular in the U.S. as it is in Europe, where he used to manufacture his products. In 2024, he moved production to North Carolina in hopes of saving money on shipping costs for his American customers. "I was driven by that desire to manufacture domestically, manufacture where you sell your product," he said. "That doesn't mean we can get everything that we need to make our doors domestically."Fish said that without imports from Italy and China, some of his products could not be made the same way domestically. The specialized locking mechanisms used in the doors are only made in Italy, for example.Special pins that reinforce the hinge side can be produced for $2.50 a piece in China, where he currently supplies them. In the U.S., it's not as cost-effective."The best price we were able to get here was north of $10 for one small component," Fish said. "So as much as I want to be manufacturing in North America, in the U.S. as much as possible, it's not always feasible."Fish said that tariffs are proving to be complicated. "Tariffs help us in some regards," he said. "They hurt us in others, because the components that we still need to import are being tariffed. And that does have an impact on our costs, and the price that we can sell our doors." New poll data from Elon University shows that other Americans, including Fish, are concerned about tariff impacts on costs too.Data shows 80% of Americans anticipate rising costs from the Trump administration's trade policies. Jason Husser, director of the Elon poll, said 65% of respondants polled are at least somewhat concerned with how tariffs could negatively impact their economic situation – although confidence levels differ across partisan lines. Recession is another big thing on participants' minds."50% of Americans are concerned about that," he said. "People are also concerned about federal and state government policy changes, or de-funding certain programs that their job might be tied to. And then there’s also concerns about industry changes that might be taking place as the federal government really changes its financial position in society.” The poll shows that overall confidence in the economy is weak, with 45% saying they have lost trust in the economy since Trump took office. Those numbers look different on party lines: 65% of Republicans said they have increased trust in the economy compared to 9% of Democrats. And when asked about decreased trust, 79% of Democrats said they lost confidence compared to 12% of Republicans."We are at a time of uncertainty," Husser said. "For many Americans, they are yet to see how this uncertainty translates into actual economic behavior, but that economic behavior in terms of spending will have an impact on GDP and other key indicators of performance -- which then in turn, in our complex environment of the economy, could have downstream effects on interest rates."Since Trump announced "Liberation Day," poll participants were asked if they were willing to accept higher prices now for economic gain later. Only 38% agreed with that tradeoff."When there's a Democratic president, Democrats are more optimistic," Husser said. "When there's a Republican president, Republicans are more optimistic. There are conversations about several major changes at once, in particular, tariffs changing the foreign trade balance, as well as pretty significant cuts to the federal spending."Husser said funding cuts have made some Americans nervous about employment and Social Security.The poll further outlined economic anxiety from the standpoint of fear over losing jobs or entering a recession. The full poll results, including how they conducted the poll, can be found here. "When people perceive something to be the case, oftentimes they modify their behavior," Husser said. "That has downstream effects in terms of how much spending actually happens. Are people willing to take sort of a big financial risk for long term gain? I think that there's a potential we could be seeing, some of that in terms of, the political parties with Republicans being more risk oriented right now because they're less worried about things to come."
Tariff anxiety continues in North Carolina: for both manufacturers and consumers. New data from an Elon University poll shows Americans are concerned about the economy and tariffs. A local business owner in High Point echoed similar concerns.
Samuel Fish owns Shield Security Doors in High Point, a bulletproof steel door manufacturing company. Fish said his business is just one of many having a hard time sourcing pieces they need to make their products, all due to tariffs.
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"We source some of our bulletproof steel from Europe," Fish said. "Even with tariffs in place, the specialized bulletproof steel that we're getting from Europe is still less expensive than sourcing an equivalent here in the U.S."
Reinforced steel doors are a product, he said is not as popular in the U.S. as it is in Europe, where he used to manufacture his products. In 2024, he moved production to North Carolina in hopes of saving money on shipping costs for his American customers.
"I was driven by that desire to manufacture domestically, manufacture where you sell your product," he said. "That doesn't mean we can get everything that we need to make our doors domestically."
Fish said that without imports from Italy and China, some of his products could not be made the same way domestically. The specialized locking mechanisms used in the doors are only made in Italy, for example.
Special pins that reinforce the hinge side can be produced for $2.50 a piece in China, where he currently supplies them. In the U.S., it's not as cost-effective.
"The best price we were able to get here was north of $10 for one small component," Fish said. "So as much as I want to be manufacturing in North America, in the U.S. as much as possible, it's not always feasible."
Fish said that tariffs are proving to be complicated.
"Tariffs help us in some regards," he said. "They hurt us in others, because the components that we still need to import are being tariffed. And that does have an impact on our costs, and the price that we can sell our doors."
New poll data from Elon University shows that other Americans, including Fish, are concerned about tariff impacts on costs too.
Data shows 80% of Americans anticipate rising costs from the Trump administration's trade policies.
Jason Husser, director of the Elon poll, said 65% of respondants polled are at least somewhat concerned with how tariffs could negatively impact their economic situation – although confidence levels differ across partisan lines. Recession is another big thing on participants' minds.
"The number one thing people are worried about is economic recession"
"50% of Americans are concerned about that," he said. "People are also concerned about federal and state government policy changes, or de-funding certain programs that their job might be tied to. And then there’s also concerns about industry changes that might be taking place as the federal government really changes its financial position in society.”
The poll shows that overall confidence in the economy is weak, with 45% saying they have lost trust in the economy since Trump took office. Those numbers look different on party lines: 65% of Republicans said they have increased trust in the economy compared to 9% of Democrats. And when asked about decreased trust, 79% of Democrats said they lost confidence compared to 12% of Republicans.
"We are at a time of uncertainty," Husser said. "For many Americans, they are yet to see how this uncertainty translates into actual economic behavior, but that economic behavior in terms of spending will have an impact on GDP and other key indicators of performance -- which then in turn, in our complex environment of the economy, could have downstream effects on interest rates."
Since Trump announced "Liberation Day," poll participants were asked if they were willing to accept higher prices now for economic gain later. Only 38% agreed with that tradeoff.
"When there's a Democratic president, Democrats are more optimistic," Husser said. "When there's a Republican president, Republicans are more optimistic. There are conversations about several major changes at once, in particular, tariffs changing the foreign trade balance, as well as pretty significant cuts to the federal spending."
Husser said funding cuts have made some Americans nervous about employment and Social Security.
The poll further outlined economic anxiety from the standpoint of fear over losing jobs or entering a recession. The full poll results, including how they conducted the poll, can be found here.
"When people perceive something to be the case, oftentimes they modify their behavior," Husser said. "That has downstream effects in terms of how much spending actually happens. Are people willing to take sort of a big financial risk for long term gain? I think that there's a potential we could be seeing, some of that in terms of, the political parties with Republicans being more risk oriented right now because they're less worried about things to come."
