Trump's tariffs pushed me to buy a TV at Best Buy yesterday. Should you follow my lead?

• Trump's big new tariffs on imports may lead to higher consumer electronics prices.
• US tariffs on China, the world's largest electronics manufacturing hub, hit 54%.
• Should US consumers buy electronics now to avoid potential price hikes?

I've been thinking about getting a new TV for a while.

There's a strange bug with our Samsung TV that keeps the volume stuck on a really loud setting. It inexplicably defaults to Newsmax when turned on, so we have to fumble with the flawed remote while a pundit shouts about immigrants.

I was ready for a new one but hadn't got around to it. This week, Donald Trump gave me another reason to buy now.

The US president unveiled draconian tariffs on imports from most countries on Wednesday. All in, China will have 54% tariffs. This is where most consumer electronics are still made. Among other tech manufacturing hubs, Vietnam got 46%. Taiwan got 32%, while South Korea and Malaysia were 25% and 24%, respectively.

These are such huge trade levies that it's hard not to expect prices to increase. Best Buy's CEO, Corie Barry, said during the company's March earnings call that Trump's tariff plans were likely to increase prices. And that was before the president really went all in.

Another example is Apple, which still assembles most of its iPhones and other hardware in China. On Thursday, tech analyst Dan Ives put some rough numbers on what might happen.

He warned that for US consumers, the reality of a $1,000 iPhone "would disappear" if Apple was forced to make these devices in the US instead of China.

"If consumers want a $3,500 iPhone we should make them in New Jersey or Texas or another state," Ives wrote. "If they are produced in the US will be 2x-3x more expensive."

Being half Scottish, I dislike the idea of stuff being more expensive, so I headed to my Silicon Valley Best Buy on Thursday morning to see if I could lock in any pre-tariff deals. It was surprisingly empty. Maybe tariff-wary shoppers had better things to do — the tariff memes wouldn't create themselves.

I picked out a Roku TV that was a discounted floor model. It was just over $200 with tax. On the back, it read "Assembled in China," so you might have to add 54% to this price in a few months. 

It's not as simple as that, of course. Trump might roll some or all of these tariffs back as part of a grand negotiating strategy. There could be carve-outs and exceptions. Tim Cook, aka Tim Apple, has a pretty good track record of getting Apple special treatment. 

Given these wrinkles, I spoke on Thursday to Les Shu. He oversees Business Insider's Tech Reviews department, which includes consumer electronics reviews and explainers.

Here's his advice about what to (not) panic buy:

Question: Do you expect Trump's new tariffs to impact the prices of consumer electronics in general in the US?

"We think existing products on shelf have already established pricing, so we don't anticipate that to change from the manufacturer standpoint. We could see prices go up for future products like the next iPhone."

Q: Which tech products stand out as potentially seeing the most pricing increases?

"Accessories and smaller electronics, particularly those from Asia, could see more immediate increases, particularly if they haven't already been imported and warehoused in the US. Once we get a better picture of the scale and when semiconductors are taxed, we may see it affecting more categories like TVs and computers and graphics cards."

Q: Which consumer electronics companies stand out as being particularly exposed? 

"We aren't sure, but it's likely all companies will feel the effects since the majority of goods are made abroad."

Q: Which consumer electronics products would you suggest BI readers try to buy now before prices might increase?

"We don't believe consumers should panic buy. If they have been debating whether to purchase something and had been holding off, perhaps now is a good time to buy. We also think older products from 2024 still on sale would be an even better deal as they're likely unaffected by tariffs, like last-generation TVs. But again, don't buy for the sake of buying, as it's too soon to tell."

Q: If BI readers want to follow my lead and go looking for electronics deals, is there anything they should snap up now? A new Roku TV? Or a MacBook Air? Or maybe a new smartphone or speaker?

"As long as you were planning to buy something, any of those would be fair game. Given how quickly tech becomes obsolete, we don't know if you're going to have an advantage in purchasing now as a way to protect against higher tariffs. People will always want the latest tech, so they may be willing to pay the extra price."