LETTER: Trump’s tariffs and inflation

In his Aug. 5 letter, Greg Scherr says he doesn’t think tariffs will cause higher inflation. I don’t know what world he lives in, but it is not our current economic one.

The tariffs that President Donald Trump wants to institute against other countries range anywhere from 25 percent to 50 percent. Distributors, shippers and retailers are not going to eat those tariffs out of the goodness of their heart. Using Mr. Scherr’s own math, even with a low figure of a 25 percent tariff, that would leave a net increase of 19 percent after all of the above have absorbed a 1.5 percent hit on the tariffs.

Does a 19 percent increase for goods sound like it would not cause inflation? It’s amazing how people justify what is happening today.