More Price Hikes in Pipeline from Tariffs, Shrinking Workforce

If you think prices are high now thanks to Trump, two South Dakota business honchos say you ain’t seen nothin’ yet:

Inflation is affecting South Dakota businesses before it reaches consumers, and two executives say tariffs, artificial intelligence demand, high interest rates and a tight labor market are among the culprits.

…Brian Gramm, CEO of construction company Journey Group, and Crystal Lail, chief financial officer of NorthWestern Energy, spoke Thursday at the Sioux Falls Metro Economic Briefing, fielding questions from South Dakota State University economics professor Joe Santos.

…Both executives said tariff impacts are showing up in their input costs. Their companies are absorbing the difference for now, which Santos calls “pipeline inflation”: cost increases working their way through the system and eventually reaching consumers [Makenzie Huber, “‘Consumers Aren’t Going to Be Happy’: South Dakota Executives Warn of Coming Price Increases,” South Dakota Searchlight, 2026.09.24.

Businesses might forestall some of those price pass-ons if they could get bigger, but that’s hard to do with Trump shrinking America’s workforce:

…Gramm said Journey has also had to cut its immigrant visa workforce because of federal immigration policy changes.

The result is a compounding squeeze: companies try to absorb rising costs by growing but can’t find enough workers to do so, and the costs eventually flow to consumers who are also paying more to borrow [Huber, 2026.09.24].

Contrary to the Thune bushwah posted by the SDGOP spin machine, nothing Trump has done has made South Dakota’s economy better. Under his capricious and corrupt control, South Dakota’s economy will only get worse.