Trade tensions with China cast gloom over US holiday shopping season

WASHINGTON - The holiday shopping season is traditionally considered a time full of joy and cheer for both US retailers and consumers. But as this year's holiday shopping season kicked off on Thanksgiving, the mood is a bit mixed.

Retailers, especially small ones, have been struggling to deal with the additional US tariffs on Chinese imports, while consumers, who crave a bargain, are worried about potential price increases in the future.

Reluctance to raise prices

Holiday shopping season usually refers to the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and some define it as the whole months of November and December. The National Retail Federation said holiday sales represent about 20 percent of annual retail sales each year, but the figure can be as high as 30 percent for some retailers, such as hobby, toy and game stores.

Retailers reported higher costs from tariffs and firms generally expected higher prices going forward, but their ability to raise prices to cover higher costs "remained limited," according to the US Federal Reserve's latest survey on economic conditions, known as the Beige Book, released earlier this week.

In the Cleveland Fed district, a clothing retailer reduced the use of price discounting to offset higher costs resulting from tariffs. A food retailer said that even though tariffs had increased costs, the company "cannot raise prices on a whim" because of fierce competition.

Retailers' reluctance to raise prices is evident to consumers such as Kelsey Burhan and Sloane Smith, who told Xinhua at the Leesburg Premium Outlets in Virginia Thursday night that they haven't noticed any price change for the same stores they usually shop.

"I think it's a good discount. I feel like it's about the same with last year," said Burhan, who planned to purchase some purses at Kate Spade and clothes at American Eagle.

For Kumar Kincun, who has been coming to the outlets on Thanksgiving for the past nine years, this year is certainly different. Despite generally stable prices at this moment, Kincun said he is "definitely" concerned about the additional tariffs resulting from the US-China trade tensions.

"The tariffs would impact the price, it will. It goes gradually up, I think that's what it's happening," Kincun told Xinhua. He said he would purchase more products, including Christmas gifts, early in the holiday season to avoid higher prices later on.