With Trump’s Tariffs 86’d, We Asked if This Means Cheaper Dining in Dallas

We’ve talked a lot lately about the impact tariffs and other economic woes have had on the Dallas dining scene. Everything costs more: beer, wine and take-out supplies. Beef has its own problems. Then there’s the lease cliff, caused by an influx of big-concept chain spots raising rents and pricing out local owners. A survey by TouchBistro found that 82% of restaurant operators said tariffs and trade policies had “directly impacted their restaurant’s inventory challenges” last year.

David Quigley, PhD, a clinical professor of economics at the University of Texas-Arlington, had good news and bad news for Dallas-area restaurants in the wake of Friday’s Supreme Court decision that the Trump tariffs were unconstitutional.

The Good News

“I think what we’ll see, more than anything else, is increased price certainty,” says Quigley, who added that restaurants almost certainly won’t have to deal with the seemingly unending stream of tariff threats that they’ve heard since last April – 200% for this, 100% for that, and 50% for something else, depending on which countries Trump was threatening at the time. “They’ll be able to know what their costs can be, and to plan accordingly.”

The bad news? Don’t expect prices to go down much.

The Not-So Good News

“A lot of the price increases may already be baked into the system,” he said, “and there doesn’t appear to be much incentive for importers to lower prices.” This is especially true given the uncertain nature of refunds for what importers have already paid in tariffs — $142 billion by one estimate — and without refunds, they’d have even less reason to lower prices.

The court’s 6-3 ruling, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, said that the Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power to impose tariffs and taxes. If Trump wants to reinstate the tariffs, he must ask Congress for authority to do so. The ruling doesn’t lift the tariffs that Trump imposed on steel and aluminum under a 1962 law. These tariffs have boosted aluminum can prices by as much as the low double digits, further burdening restaurants, craft breweries and retailers that sell canned beer and wine.

There has been a 15% tariff on EU wine and beer for about six months, as well as a 30% tariff on some South African products and lesser tariffs on wine from South America, Australia, and New Zealand,as well as as much as 25% on Mexican beer and spirits.