Across the country, people have been rushing to stores or going online to buy everything from iPhones to coffee to designer bags and jewelry in anticipation of the toll the tariffs will take on their wallets. 

Employees at Apple stores coast to coast have reported being bombarded with questions about how the tariffs would affect the cost of iPhones. In some cases, people have been stocking up on items they don’t necessarily need. 

Ben Titus is one of them, and he told the Washington Examiner that he wasn’t taking any chances.  

On Tuesday night, Titus went to the Apple store in Richmond, Virginia, to buy his 12-year-old daughter, Lisa, an iPhone 16 Plus. He plans to give it to her for Christmas, eight months from now. 

“I have no idea what it will cost then, so better safe than sorry,” he said after forking over nearly $1,000 for the phone and additional storage space. “Nothing is certain, and that’s the new normal.”

Trump had slapped a 104% tariff on China, which Apple relies heavily on to make its products. Trump also announced so-called reciprocal tariffs on more than 90 nations on April 2. On Wednesday, he said he would pause those tariffs for 90 days after his policy threatened to upend global trade. Despite the grace period for some countries, Trump announced he would increase tariffs on China to 125% after Beijing announced retaliation tariffs on imports from the United States for a total tax of 84%. 

The new developments still keep Apple products on dangerous ground. 

For example, the price tag on an iPhone 16 Pro Max could rise from $1,500 to $2,300, though some analysts believe that’s the lower end of the market. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives predicts that making iPhones in the U.S. would set the price point much higher for customers, hovering around the $3,500 mark.  

Though Apple has declined to comment on the sales rush, its retail stores reportedly saw much higher sales over the past weekend than in previous years.

Apple isn’t likely to immediately hike the costs of its signature product. The company has kept the price for the Pro model the same, $999, since 2017. Because iPhones make up 50% of the company’s total revenue, it will have to find the money somewhere. The best bet, analysts said, would be to get a government exemption from the tariffs, something the company did during the first Trump administration. However, Trump has indicated it will be tougher this time around.

The company could also source more iPhones from India, which faces a significantly lower tariff.

Americans have also been panic-buying cars to get ahead of the tariffs. Deutsche Bank analysts said Friday that they expected a rise from February levels but that “this impact appears far greater than we anticipated.” 

Auto-industry experts, such as Anderson Economic Group, have warned that Trump’s tariffs would likely cause auto dealers to raise costs by thousands of dollars and hit the five-figure range for luxury cars. 

“If you are in the market for a new car and you find one you like, my advice is to buy it right away,” Anderson Economic Group CEO Patrick Anderson said. “If you have a used car you rely upon, my advice is to make sure it is well maintained as you are likely to use it for a while longer than you had earlier planned.”

Other panic buys include furniture, shoes, apparel, coffee and tea, and fruits like avocados. The U.S. imports 80% of its avocados, making them extremely vulnerable to price hikes. Much of the coffee Americans drink is imported from Kenya, Colombia, and Brazil. A large part of American furniture is also assembled abroad and could see large increases. 

Sales volume in “shelf stable” groceries, items that can be safely stored at room temperature for a long period of time, rose after the tariffs were announced, according to new data from Consumer Edge, which tracks spending from credit card data from major retailers. Instant coffee sales rose 21%, ketchup 18%, and beer 3% from just a week ago.  

“It really does seem like consumers are responding to [the tariffs] and trying to buy some stuff early,” Michael Gunther, head of insights at Consumer Edge, said. 

The luxury market is also getting hit. 

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“The U.S. was supposed to be the savior of the luxury goods industry,” Euan Rellie, cofounder of the investment bank BDA Partners, which works in the fashion industry, told the New York Times. “The Trump administration has said overnight, ‘We’re not going to play ball.’ Luxury is in a very tough spot.”

Initially, the Trump administration imposed a 20% tariff on products from the European Union. With that still up in the air, everything in the U.S. market could become much more expensive. The market was already hurting after slowdowns in China, Germany’s recession, and an aging Japanese population. The tariffs could take it over the edge.