Diwali, the festival of lights, will be celebrated around the world Monday, but steep tariffs on Indian goods made preparing for the holiday more costly for people living in the U.S.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists are celebrating Diwali today, the festival of lights. But this year, many living in the U.S. had their preparations complicated by tariffs. From member station WBHM in Birmingham, Alabama, Vahini Shori has more.
VAHINI SHORI, BYLINE: Shilpa Desai (ph) works at Jubilee Groceries in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. She’s prepping for the busy holiday rush.
SHILPA DESAI: Everybody going to buy, like, diyas and sweets and all the groceries. And, like, you know, they’re going to get prepared for the puja, like, a worship.
SHORI: But this year, steep tariffs on goods from India mean that the store has had to increase their prices on pretty much everything, even staple goods like wheat flour, peanut oil and rice.
DESAI: It is sad. Like, sooner or later, it’s going to affect people, yeah.
SHORI: Desai is really worried about customers not being able to afford what they would normally buy for Diwali, which is also when many people here stock up for the year.
DESAI: It is hurt because that’s our regular food. Middle class, they cannot afford. So sorry, I’m going to get tears. But, yeah, so that’s hurt me, yeah.
SHORI: Now, some economists say that consumers may have to start evaluating which goods they must buy from India and which they can get cheaper from somewhere else. Layna Mosley is a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University.
LAYNA MOSLEY: What they really do is undercut the efficiency that we have as a result of international trade, right? Our ability to buy rice that’s grown in other countries, which is much cheaper, of course, than rice in the U.S., or our ability to buy a bunch of different varieties of rice depending on our preferences is really diminished when you have tariffs in place.
SHORI: And since these tariffs are so tied to U.S. foreign policy…
MOSLEY: I think that that suggests that many of these tariffs are kind of here to stay for quite some time, right? And, you know, we’re still, I think, only beginning to see the economic impact of these tariffs.
SHORI: For now, consumers like Shilpa Desai are doing their best.
DESAI: And I normally cook my food at home. So especially in Diwali time, too, I do everything at home.
SHORI: In between working two jobs, she’s still planning to cook a mountain of food for friends and family this year, even while feeling the effects of these tariffs.
For NPR News, and Vahini Shori in Birmingham.
(SOUNDBITE OF KANYE WEST SONG, “FLASHING LIGHTS”)
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