• Donald Trump on Saturday implemented new tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China.
• Canada and Mexico's leaders implemented retaliatory tariffs on the US in response.
• Retailers and trade researchers told BI they expect price hikes on consumer goods as tensions rise.

Retailers and consumers alike are bracing for the impacts of a new trade policy after President Donald Trump on Saturday fulfilled an oft-repeated campaign pledge by implementing new tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China.

The executive orders include a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico and a 10% tariff on China, which the Trump administration says is an effort to address the fentanyl crisis. In response to Trump's new trade policy, Canada and Mexico's leaders implemented retaliatory tariffs against the US, heightening tensions between the North American trade partners.

"The supply chains will be totally disrupted," William George, director of research at trade database company ImportGenius, told Business Insider. "The disruption this will cause for consumer purchases cannot be overstated."

BI previously reported economists predict many firms will pass increased costs caused by tariffs onto customers, and several companies — including Walmart and Columbia Sportswear — have already said they are preparing to raise prices in response.

Electronics, groceries, and apparel are among the most likely products to see price increases.

Companies try to stave off increases

George, whose company tracks details about shipments of goods to and from the US and around the globe, told BI that some big companies prepared for the president to implement his plan for new taxes and restrictions by frontloading shipments of goods in an apparent effort to stave off supply chain disruptions for as long as possible.

"Walmart's China-originating US maritime imports are up over 33% from 2023 to 2024," George said. That increase accounts for at least 14,000 additional shipping containers of imports brought in ahead of the expected tariff increases, he added.

ImportGenius data shows Columbia Sportswear's year-over-year imports were also up — over 50% from 2023 to 2024 and over 80% during the March to December period in 2024, when frontloading activity is believed to have spiked.

Representatives for Walmart and Columbia Sportswear did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BI.

Christopher Tang, a UCLA professor and global supply chain scholar, said product stockpiles from major companies could keep prices steady at big box stores for a few weeks. Still, he expects price increases will soon hit shelves even for the most prepared businesses.

"They cannot buy all the inventory they'll need forever, so in forward buying scenarios, you'll see maybe a couple of weeks of inventory," Tang said. "Down the road, there are estimates that it will cost around $3,000 extra for the consumer to buy a car that's made in Mexico due to the tariffs. Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

Not every retailer has the resources to frontload shipping, so price increases may hit sooner. BI previously reported that some small business owners are working to diversify their supply chains, which may also come with increased costs, and others are planning to add new service fees to their products to offset anticipated price hikes.

"We're suffering with already high prices on everything — on meat, on eggs — and everything's going to go up again," Ruben Guerra, chairman of the Latin Business Association, representing 800,000 Latino businesses in California, told BI. "All the Mexican companies that I know and businesses across the border are all sending me responses saying 'Something needs to be done. We're going to lose a lot of business.'"

Heightened tensions risk a trade war

Outrage from consumers and business owners is a feature of the tariffs, not a bug, Tang, the UCLA professor, told BI. He said it would likely increase pressure on the governments of Mexico, Canada, and China to negotiate quickly with the Trump administration to meet its policy demands over border security — but the move is risky.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday evening announced 25% retaliatory tariffs on goods imported from the US, in response to the tariffs Trump levied on Canadian imports. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum late Saturday also imposed retaliatory 25% tariffs on imported US goods in response to Trump's trade moves, per Reuters.

BI previously reported economists predict China will respond similarly, with retaliatory tariffs, limiting exports of raw materials used for semiconductor production, or other changes to its trade policies to squeeze the US economy. No such measures have yet been announced.

"I think consumers need to prepare that this is going to affect everybody in the country, not just a couple of businesses," Guerra said.

• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday announced retaliatory tariffs against the US.
• Canada will impose a 25% tariff on US goods, some effective Tuesday and others in 3 weeks.
• The tariffs came after Donald Trump implemented 25% tariffs on Canadian goods imported to the US.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday announced retaliatory tariffs against the US in response to President Donald Trump's tariffs on Canadian imports, which were implemented earlier in the day.

"Tonight, I am announcing Canada will be responding to the US trade action with 25% tariffs against 155 billion dollars worth of American goods," Trudeau said during a press conference. "This will include immediate tariffs on $30 billion worth of goods as of Tuesday, followed by further tariffs on $125 billion worth of American products in 21 day's time to allow Canadian companies and supply chains to seek to find alternatives."

Trudeau said the tariffs will apply to everyday items shipped from the US to Canada, including alcohol, fruits, clothing, and shoes, as well as major consumer products like household appliances and furniture, and materials like lumber and plastics.

"And as part of our response, we are considering with the provinces and territories several non-tariff measures, including some relating to critical minerals, energy procurement and other partnerships," Trudeau said.

Canada's retaliatory measures come after Trump made good on an oft-repeated campaign pledge, implementing 25% tariffs on Canadian goods imported to the US in what he described as an effort to curb the fentanyl crisis.

A 2022 report by a congressional commission on combatting synthetic opioids found Canada is not a major source of fentanyl or other synthetic opioids to the United States.

Trudeau, who earlier this month announced his resignation as leader of Canada's Liberal Party, said during the Saturday press conference that he had not spoken to Trump since his inauguration on January 20 but pledged to remain available for negotiations over the countries' trade relations.

"If President Trump wants to usher in a new golden age for the United States, the better path is to partner with Canada, not to punish us," Trudeau said. "Canada has critical minerals, reliable and affordable energy, stable democratic institutions, shared values, and the natural resources you need. Canada has the ingredients necessary to build a booming and secure partnership for the North American economy, and we stand at the ready to work together."

Representatives for the Trump administration and Trudeau's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Late Saturday, in response to Trump's trade moves against the country, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum also announced retaliatory 25% tariffs on imported US goods, per Reuters.

BI previously reported economists predict the Chinese government will respond similarly, with retaliatory tariffs, limiting exports of raw materials used for semiconductor production, or other changes to its trade policies to squeeze the US economy.

• Donna Burke, 60, started her teaching career in Perth, Australia, but harbored deeper ambitions.
• She left the profession to follow her dream of being a famous singer and actor.
• Now she's a professional singer — and the voice of Japan's bullet train.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Donna Burke. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I actually got my education at a teacher training college completely for free.

In the 1980s, the Australian government paid for you to attend university if you worked for more than two years. I stayed in a banking job for exactly two years and two days so I could claim free higher education and retrain as a teacher.

My parents didn't encourage my true aspirations — singing and acting — but saw teaching as a safe career on which I could always fall back. I was one of seven children, and we were encouraged to do everything we could to be financially stable. Two of my older sisters also went into teacher training.

I reflect now on whether it was good advice to put my dreams second. Perhaps it was. I later really wanted to move to Japan — where I now live — to work. One of the visa requirements was that you have a university degree. Without following my parents' advice, I'd have been ineligible. But now I get to do something I truly love.

I never thought teaching would be a job for life

I began my teaching career by returning to work at the same school I'd attended as a student. The boys in my class were an absolute nightmare and the girls barely got my attention as I was so busy trying to calm and control the unruly boys. I followed the common advice on winning obedience as a teacher: don't crack a smile before Easter. I was super strict; I had to be.

After that, I moved on to teach older students Religion, English, and Drama at a different high school. It was heaven; I could relax and crack jokes without losing control of the class. They'd barely laugh, though.

I never hoped it'd be a job for life. I wanted to be onstage.

In some ways, teaching is like being onstage; it's like acting. You have to pretend you don't care when you deeply care. You have to stifle laughter, keep a straight face, act really disappointed, or say, " Wow, that's amazing!" knowing that 30 young adults are watching your every move. But they don't want a performer; they want a teacher. I never said it out loud, but in the back of my mind, I knew I was settling.

I moved to Tokyo

After eight years of teaching in Perth, Australia, I saw an ad for a teaching job in Tokyo. At the interview, they said the job involved less teaching and more helping Japanese young people with their English conversation skills. It felt like an opportunity for a role with fewer responsibilities in a new and exciting place.

When I moved to Japan, I soon realized I could make good money being a wedding singer as a side hustle, something I'd started doing in Perth. I was doing up to six weddings a day. It affirmed what I'd always known: teaching isn't my passion; it's not what I was put on the planet for.

In 1997, I left my teaching job in Tokyo and focused on my passion: bringing joy to people through my singing and performing. I also began doing voice-overs for computer games, including Silent Hill and Metal Gear Solid.

My voice is on the bullet train

In 2002, I auditioned to be the English-speaking voice on the Japanese bullet train, the Shinkansen, coinciding with Japan's tourist boom of English speakers. I voiced about five routes, including the most famous: Tokyo to Kyoto.

It led to other great jobs, too. I'm also the English voice-over for the earthquake alert system in Japan. So if you're anywhere in the country and a magnitude four earthquake or above happens, your mobile phone will blurt out my voice saying "Earthquake! Earthquake!"

I don't regret any of my decisions. But my motto for life is: if you're not grateful for what you're doing, stop. You want to bring some energy into your work.

I'm glad I didn't wait around for my "big break." When it happened, it wasn't what I'd expected, but the key was I didn't ask anyone's permission. I went out and made things happen myself.

• My adult daughter told me she didn't want to hear my advice anymore, setting a boundary.
• I was impressed with her ability to set boundaries, and she has always been emotionally mature.
• I'm jealous of her ability to do that, but she is an inspiration to me.

"Mom, I'm going to give you an update on my life, but I don't want your advice because I won't take it anyway."

My daughter effortlessly stated her well-articulated boundaries to me as she hopped in the car. I kind of laughed as I eagerly awaited the juicy details of her life as a confident, 21-year-old college student-athlete.

Molly told me all about her friends, the hockey team, and her classes. She disclosed her desire to study abroad and her newfound love of Irish music, and of course, she dished any boy drama (or lack thereof) as always. I listened. We laughed.

At the end of our conversation, her brave boundary-setting request was a success. She made something so hard, like setting a boundary, look and feel so damn easy. That's when I realized I was envious of her.

My daughter often stepped up into the adult role

I often joke that my oldest daughter, Molly, was born an adult. From the moment she was born, she has been teaching me how to be a better person. For most of the years that she's been alive, she has been taking care of me.

At first, I was an active alcoholic who could hardly take care of herself — let alone her children. When I finally did get sober and didn't really know how to live without alcohol, Molly taught me.

She doesn't know it and maybe she wasn't trying to, but she made the things that felt so hard to me look so easy.

When her parents split and life changed from one house to two, she became a second parent to her siblings in both homes; she simply stepped up. Too much has fallen on her shoulders, yet she never wavers.

She is calm in the chaos — always. She is loving and patient — always. She is a leader — our leader — and we lean on her (even though we shouldn't). Molly has always made everything look easy despite the fact that nothing in her life has ever truly been that. For as long as I can remember, I have looked up to her.

Now she's taking steps I am too afraid to take

"I don't want your advice." She said it with a smile, a pep, and well-deserved pride. She didn't say it rudely. I didn't feel rejected or less than, but I did feel jealous.

It wasn't the first time I wished I could be more like Molly, but this time, it was so much more poignant. I wondered: How is it that my daughter has mastered the challenge of setting boundaries and I haven't? How had Molly learned this valuable lesson at such a young age? And how did she execute it so beautifully?

I have been struggling with this my entire life — so much so that I typically sacrifice my own wants and needs to avoid boundaries altogether, and that leads to resentment and anger, and whatever is the opposite of peace.

The jealousy factor pops up a lot these days. Both of my young adult daughters have their lives ahead of them, and I'm at the point in life where I'm starting to look back. When I do, I realize that I have spent so much time being my own worst enemy because I am not comfortable doing what Molly did. I people-please first, avoid discomfort, and fear rejection.

I feel jealous of my daughter, and I don't think that is a bad thing

Jealousy often has a negative connotation, but I know that the word also has roots in the word zēlos, which means zeal. It is associated with words such as emulation, devotion, or ardor. This is what I often feel for Molly — love, devotion, and a desire to emulate her.

She shows me who I want to be — maybe who I wish I had become sooner.

When your kids are little, people always warn you about how quickly they grow up, but no one ever mentions how beautiful it is when that does happen.

When our kids are young, we can be struck by how they want to be just like us, but we don't usually talk about how we might want to be more like them. We don't talk about jealousy, but maybe we should. Maybe parenting adults evokes jealousy — jealousy in the more ancient sense of the term. And maybe this is the gift and beauty of parenting adult children: They show us who we want to be.

• Jefferies CEO Richard Handler addressed the death of 28-year-old associate Carter McIntosh.
• The memo slammed 'unfounded, vitriolic attacks' against the firm in the wake of the death.
• Dallas police are probing McIntosh's passing as an "unexplained death.'

Jefferies CEO Richard Handler addressed the death of a 28-year-old tech banker in a memo to staff on Saturday, slamming online "speculation" and "cynical assumptions" and offering support to junior staffers.

"I hope that all of you who know me understand how personally heartbreaking this is for me," Handler said of the unexpected death of Carter McIntosh, a TMT banker out of Dallas.

McIntosh was found dead at a residential apartment building called Bell Knox District on Monday, according to records from the Dallas County Medical Examiner's office. The cause of death remains unknown, but it has led to some criticisms online over the sometimes grueling demands that can be placed on young Wall Street professionals.

Handler on Saturday blasted what he called "unfounded, vitriolic attacks."

"At this point, nobody knows exactly what happened and engaging in speculation with cynical assumptions serves no useful purpose and only adds to the grief that the McIntosh family is suffering," he said.

Dallas police said they are investigating McIntosh's passing. "Based on the date, approximate time, and location, this incident is being investigated as an unexplained death," Michael Dennis, a public information officer for the Dallas police, told BI on Tuesday.

Handler said he spent time with junior members of the Dallas office on Thursday and offered support for anyone grieving or overworked.

"So, whether it is being overwhelmed by the sadness of Carter’s passing or getting overloaded by work or even feeling like there are things in your personal life that seem unmanageable, always feel free to reach out to us or to any of our highly capable senior leaders," he said.

A spokesman for Jefferies declined to comment. Bloomberg earlier reported on the memo.

Here's a copy of the memo Handler sent to staff: