How bad will Trump tariffs be for music? Let us count the ways.

[This was my column for GlobalNews.ca. – AC]

Now that the stragglers are waking up to the fact that a tariff is a tax on the consumer (the importing company pays the tariff and then passes the increased cost to the consumer in the form of higher prices), there’s a growing realization how much pain this current fiscal approach is going to have on the economy.

All countries will be impacted, but for America, the combination of an own-goal and shoot-yourself-in-the-foot reality threatens to send the nation into recession. And, if we’re not careful, the rest of the world may follow.

All sectors of the music industry are watching U.S. President Donald Trump very carefully because the impact of these across-the-board tariffs is going to hurt. A lot. Here are just a few ways in which the pain is going to be administered. (This is the best available information —  Trump may have changed his mind on some part of this over the last hour.)

Let’s take a look at how bad this could end up being. Keep reading.