As expected, China is hitting back with its own economic penalties against the US after President Trump imposed 10% tariffs on all Chinese imports.

They include tariffs on US coal, gas, farm machinery and other goods and take effect February 10th, meaning there is still time to negotiate.

It comes after the White House struck last minute deals with Mexico and Canada, staving off proposed tariffs against those countries in exchange for their commitment to beef up border security and to block migrants and fentanyl from crossing the U.S. border.

Businesses across the country and here in New Jersey are bracing for impact and the potential fallout.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan reports.

Do you have an agreement on tariffs yet?

And maybe we will, maybe we won't.

It's been tit for tat terror of chaos with the president wielding tariff threats as political leverage and border wars.

But if American companies do end up paying more to import and export goods from China, Canada and Mexico, that could certainly impact Jersey wallets.

Cars, for example, could cost thousands more.

Potentially as much as a $3,000 increase per vehicle.

That would be felt by the New Jersey consumer and every consumer around the country.

Laura Perata heads the New Jersey auto retailers lobby.

She says before cars land at the dealer, they cross Canadian or Mexican borders up to eight times during manufacturing.

Tariffs would slow or stop the process, leading to empty showrooms reminiscent of pandemic era shortages.

I don't think there's any question that we'll see folks fighting over the limited supply that's left and costs increasing.

I think it's just a natural fallout and a natural ripple effect.

Any time you make things more expensive, especially in a state that already is expensive, like New Jersey, it's going to hurt our economy.

Business leader Chris Jimmy Hall says 20% of Jersey jobs depend on the import export trade market, and our ports handled billions in cargo.

Tariffs disrupt these supply chains, forcing companies to scramble for parts and raw materials.

That extra cost gets passed mostly to consumers.

And it's also more expensive for everyone going to the supermarket, going to a restaurant, paying their bills.

All of those costs will go up.

We just got out of this high inflation environment.

I don't want to go back in that.

Tariffs cut both ways.

Will Canadians stop buying Jersey blueberries?

Will they boycott vacations down the shore?

The president warned.

Will there be some pain?

Yes, maybe.

And maybe not.

But we will make America great again and it will all be worth the price that must be paid.

I wasn't hearing this back in October that there was going to be pain felt by the American consumer.

So there is some recognition that this policy is going to be costly for Americans.

Rutgers economist Tom Prusa figures tariffs could reap a windfall in revenue collected for the Trump administration, which has promised to extend and expand corporate and other tax cuts.

But who benefits?

If a person spends most of their budget in the grocery market and buying clothes for their children for school?

Sales taxes are very regressive.

They fall on lower income people tariffs.

They have a similar property.

They're falling a lot on the consumer economy, but we're cutting taxes at the very high end.

I think that's something the American public really needs to ask, whether they think this is the right policy to pursue.

The people that I'm really concerned about and those that are really dependent upon our economy for groceries and rent, sending their kids to school, paying for health care, you know, all the basic things, because the objective is not to help the people that are struggling.

CEO Marcia Freeze fears her business in Bloomfield could suffer from the ongoing terror of Tango.

Case Medical makes containers out of imported sheet metal.

Buys machinery from China and sells its products to nations like Mexico and Canada.

Jersey's top two international trading partners.

We also have our tooling made in Canada and send more supplies come from Canada.

And when it comes to Mexico, we sell.

We have about three or four distributors in Mexico that we work with.

And, you know, this puts our company in jeopardy and it also affects, you know, the lives of the people that we.

Do business with.

Anticipating this barrage of tariffs, free started stockpiling raw materials last year.

But business in New Jersey and across the globe thrives on stability.

And that could be in short supply over the next four years.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ.

Spotlight News.