By james art 
Wilmington, NC (Wect) – a set of new rates offered by the Trump administration, which must come into force on Saturday, can influence the prices here in the Cape Fear region.
From February 1, the White House said it would put a 25% tariff for Mexico and Canada items and a 10% tariff for articles from China.
Musa Agil owns three gas stations in southeastern North Carolina. He says his great fear at the moment is that gas prices will rise due to tariffs. Canada especially supplies a lot of US oil as much as four million barrels a day.
“We’ll wait and see,” Aguil said. “God knows how much can rise. 50 cents, this can rise $ 1. But you know, gas prices hurt people very badly. I was kind of surprised because I thought the new administration would try to use the resources we have in this country to reduce the prices of gasoline and oil, not the other way around. “
He says he believes that many people have voted for a new administration in the hope of lower prices, both in the store and in the pump, but he is worried that this will not happen to these tariffs.
“I really thought [gas prices] He has to go down and they would go down, ”Aguil said. “And we were waiting, you know, to see prices reduce every day at our gas station and other gas stations. They didn’t do it. I really didn’t imagine this and I’m sure many of our people here did not foresee this. They are waiting for less prices in the food store, in gas stations and everything else. “
Aguil said as a whole that he was worried that these rates would cause more problems beyond just gas prices.
“This is bad news,” Aguil said. “Well, I feel that way because the Chinese will avenge, Mexicans will avenge and this will be a price war that no one will benefit from. In the end, we will pay high prices for Chinese products. They will end high prices for US products. “
President Trump has mentioned that he is considering reducing the oil tariff coming specifically from Canada from 25% to 10%. At the moment he has not made a final decision in this way or another.
“It’s like a waiting game,” Aguil said. “We are very concerned and very concerned about what will happen, because it will affect any gas station, this will affect the market, will affect grocery stores. So this is a really vicious cycle. “
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