How will tariffs and trade war impact Wilmington region?

PENDER COUNTY (StarNews) — Michael McWhorter was keeping an eye on President Donald Trump’s tariffs on foreign countries — and retaliatory responses from other countries — when he received some bad news last week.

McWhorter, the owner of Mojotone, a guitar and amplifier maker employing 68 people at a 40,000-square-foot facility in Burgaw, was ready to say in a telephone interview on Aug. 10 that he hadn’t yet seen any impact from the tariffs, but was monitoring the situation.

Then the call came.

“I got a price increase from our chassis manufacturer,” McWhorter said. “They raised their prices 16 percent.”

Will Trump’s decision to enact tariffs on some of the country’s biggest trading partners and the responses from those sovereign states be a boon to the Wilmington area, a blip that has no impact, or a devastating blow?

“Can I answer that question in 50 years?” said Adam Jones, professor of economics at the University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW).

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