Tariffs, stocks push Pittsburgh to change plans, spending (2025)

La Monte Yarroll and his wife wanted to downsize and live closer to the Montour Trail for convenient outdoor exercise, so last summer they bought a smaller house in Bethel Park. They planned to move in, with their youngest child, within the next few years.

“It was sold as a contractor’s dream,” Yarroll said. “There’s substantial work that needs to be done to make it livable.”

Back then, Donald Trump didn’t worry him. He didn’t think Trump had a chance, in part because of proposals like proposed tariffs. But now, the 57-year-old software developer thinks constantly about tariffs. It’s unclear how much they’ll affect prices on the refurbishing work, and the resource he’d been banking on to pay for it — Google stock he received after 11 years with that company — dropped around 25% from early February through early April.

“I still anticipate the stock going back up for a bit but not any time soon,” Yarroll said last week. “We paid cash for the house, and we were thinking in terms of paying cash for the retrofit as well, but now we’re looking at financing the work.”

President Trump declared April 2 “Liberation Day,” signaling what he views as the United States freeing itself of onerous economic conditions imposed by other countries. He announced a baseline 10% tax on imports purchased by American businesses from any foreign country, with even higher rates for other countries, including 34% for imports from China. In the next 24 hours, the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased by about 4%.

A week later, Trump announced a 90-day pause of the rates that go beyond 10%, with the exception of China. The two countries have since been going back and forth raising taxes on imports.

PublicSource asked Pittsburghers to share how tariffs were changing the ways they shop, work, invest and plan. Some responses focused on investments, while others cited personal spending.

Bob Kirchner, a 71-year-old retiree from St. Mary’s who said he voted for Trump, wrote to PublicSource that he was buying less and gifting less, with his “certainty of financial stability adversely impacted.”

The sweeping tariffs implemented and then adjusted by Trump, and the resulting Wall Street turmoil, have left Pittsburghers with stocks as uncertain about the future as the rest of the world. The stock market took an initial nosedive and has since been erratic, making local investors unsure of what to expect and how to proceed.

“There’s a huge amount of uncertainty about what the policy is going to be in the future, but also, what are the effects of whatever policy we end up with,” said Burton Hollifield, a finance professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

‘Frozen in time’

Although there’s some level of risk, investing in the stock market can be a beneficial alternative for saving money. Around half of Americans utilize an Individual Retirement Account or 401(k) plan, which provide tax benefits on investment earnings.

Working people can save via bank accounts, “but banks pay you low returns because there’s much less uncertainty about what you’re going to get in the future,” Hollifield said. “If you invest in a stock, it’s typically more uncertain in the future, but on average, it tends to grow more.”

Deborah Knox, a 73-year-old Squirrel Hill resident who said she mostly retired late last year from work in business management and consulting, has a portfolio that stayed steady or gained for years. But it’s dropped by about 5.5% in the last month. A recent 24 hour loss totaled about $700, she said.

“It’s very … discouraging to see what’s happening, not only for my little piece of money but what’s happening in the world in terms of trade,” Knox said. “Seems like decisions are made on models that might have been relevant 40 years ago but aren’t now.”

Knox counts herself as relatively fortunate and safe, despite the losses.

“I’m lucky,” Knox said. “I’m healthy, we own our home, kids are all grown, out of college, independent. We’re in much better shape than a lot of people.”

For the time being, Knox plans to hold off on any major decisions. Her longtime financial planner has retired, so she’s looking for someone new.

“I’m not adding to it. I’m not doing anything. I’m frozen in time until things calm down,” Knox said. “And this is not a political statement, I’m just looking at my own money.”

Risk assessment

The best way to move forward will depend on the person and their situation. Hollifield emphasized that it’s currently very difficult to predict what will happen or pick the best moments to buy or sell.

“You have to decide how much risk you’re willing to take and how much you’re willing to trade off higher returns for more risk,” Hollifield said. “If it makes you uncomfortable having all your money in risky investments now, because you can’t sleep, then that’s a reason not to be holding them. That’s the right reason — not being able to say, ‘I know it’s going to be low forever,’ because nobody knows that.”

The last time the stock market took such a dramatic swing was 2022, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Looking back on that time, Hollifield finds hope.

“Just like in the pandemic, when it was very nerve-wracking, and I can only speak for myself but it seemed like there was a lot going on, we did get through it,” Hollifield said, chuckling. “That doesn’t mean it didn’t take another year and a half for things to recover, but I’m still optimistic.”

We asked our readers if Trump’s tariffs are changing how they shop, work, invest or plan:

Matt Petras is an independent writer and adjunct professor based in Pittsburgh. He can be reached at matt456p@gmail.com.

This story was fact-checked by Rich Lord.