With the imposition of punitive tariffs on U.S. imports from Mexico and Canada set to go into effect at 12:01am on March 4, the threat of price rises on popular consumer products looms.

With just hours to go before the deadline, President Trump said March 3 there was no chance for either country to strike a last-minute deal to avert the tariffs, according to The New York Times. “They’re all set,” Trump said. “They go into effect tomorrow.” 

According to BBC News, the items most likely to be affected immediately are automobiles, fuel, lumber (and therefore new houses), avocados, maple syrup and Mexican tequila and beer (Modelo is the number one beer brand in the U.S.).

However, according to CNN, some U.S. retailers are lowering their prices, seeing an opportunity to boost competitiveness amidst the uncertainty and churn, with some passing on lowered costs to consumers. Mostly, however, there’s the danger that retailers will take advantage of the situation to raise prices even ahead of their anticipated costs — something Professor Arash Azadegan, vice chair of the Supply Chain Management Department at the Business School at Rutgers University, refers to as “hedging.” 

“In a way, we have a perfect storm here, because prices are going up and consumers are getting used to [it], so now any manufacturer in any business can say that there’s inflationary pressure,” Azadegan said in a February 14 interview with SupplyChainBrain. Even though they could keep prices lower, they now can build in a buffer, just in case they have to pay tariffs.” 

Read More: The Big Gamble on Tariff Policy

An estimated $2 billion worth of manufactured goods cross the borders between the three countries daily, and the price of an automobile is likely to rise by about $3,000 according to TD Economics, the economic forecasts arm of Canadian TD Bank Group, because auto parts cross the U.S., Canadian and Mexican borders multiple times before a vehicle is assembled. Yahoo Finance reported March 3 that the Anderson Economic Group found that vehicles like EV crossovers could have price hikes of over $12,000 depending on the vehicle. That estimate doesn’t even include the effect of Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs, which would hike production costs even more.

In retaliation for the levies, Canada says a C$30 billion set of tariffs is due to begin the day after the U.S. tariffs are implemented, which means prices would probably increase for consumers in Canada too. Canadians are already boycotting U.S. made products.

Mexico continued to attempt to negotiate with the Trump administration right up to the deadline. On March 2, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Mexico had offered to match the tariffs the U.S. will impose on China — already 10% on all imports into the U.S. 

But President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her morning news conference March 3 that the country had “a plan, regardless of the outcome,” according to NewsCentralAfrica.com

“We have plan A, plan B, plan C, and plan D,” she stated, refusing to elaborate.

Many experts agree that among the most likely consequences of tariffs meant to equalize trade deficits or boosts domestic manufacturing are higher prices for consumers. The Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax policy nonprofit, said in an article February 13 that academic and governmental studies find the prior Trump-Biden tariffs — which were far more limited than those proposed now — raised prices and reduced output and employment, producing a net negative impact on the U.S. economy.