Here’s What Tariffs Could Cost You (Plus: Downgrade or Ditch Your Premium Card?)

NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast

NerdWallet Personal Finance

Investing, How To, Education, Business

4.3 • 895 Ratings

🗓️ 7 August 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Understand how new tariffs may hit your wallet and whether premium credit card fees are still worth it. What do new U.S. tariffs mean for prices on everyday goods and cars? What should you consider when choosing a premium travel credit card? Hosts Sean Pyles and Elizabeth Ayoola discuss the latest economic indicators and the changing landscape of credit card perks to help you understand how today’s macroeconomics and personal finance decisions intersect. Joined by news Nerds Anna Helhoski and Rick VanderKnyff, the team unpacks key insights from recent federal data drops. They begin with a discussion of the latest tariffs and economic reports, with tips and tricks on understanding how import duties impact consumer prices, why inflation could be on the rise again, and how job growth revisions may affect consumer sentiment. Then, credit card Nerd Melissa Lambarena joins Sean and Elizabeth to discuss whether high-fee premium cards still deliver value. They cover how reward structures are changing, when it makes sense to downgrade instead of cancel, and how opening or closing a card affects your credit score. Take the Smart Money Podcast Listener Survey 2025 and enter to win a prize! https://nerdwallet.com/podsurvey Card benefits, terms and fees can change. For the most up-to-date information about cards mentioned in this episode, read our reviews: Chase Sapphire Reserve Makes Big Changes: Higher Fee, New Rates, More Perks https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/chase-sapphire-reserve-overhaul-june-2025 Chase Sapphire Preferred Review: Strong Option for Travel Rewards https://www.nerdwallet.com/reviews/credit-cards/chase-sapphire-preferred Chase Freedom Unlimited Review: A Potential One-Card Solution https://www.nerdwallet.com/reviews/credit-cards/chase-freedom-unlimited American Express Platinum Review: Top-Notch Lounge Access, Big Credits https://www.nerdwallet.com/reviews/credit-cards/american-express-platinum 5 Things to Know About the Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite Credit Card https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/credit-cards/5-things-to-know-about-the-bank-of-america-premium-rewards-elite-credit-card Want us to review your budget? Fill out this form — completely anonymously if you want — and we might feature your budget in a future segment! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScK53yAufsc4v5UpghhVfxtk2MoyooHzlSIRBnRxUPl3hKBig/viewform?usp=header In their conversation, the Nerds discuss: tariffs 2025, credit card downgrade effects, new credit card impact on credit score, consumer inflation trends 2025, unemployment report July 2025, core PCE inflation rate, job growth revisions BLS, credit card rewards explained, travel credit card comparison, high annual fee credit cards, credit card utilization ratio, closing credit card and credit score, 2025 economic outlook, de minimis exemption 2025, trade war impact on consumers, credit card strategy during inflation, interest rates and consumer debt, credit card perks vs cost, credit card churn risks, emergency fund importance 2025, how tariffs raise consumer prices, July 2025 consumer sentiment, credit card reward program changes, and economic uncertainty and spending. To send the Nerds your money questions, call or text the Nerd hotline at 901-730-6373 or email podcast@nerdwallet.com. Like what you hear? Please leave us a review and tell a friend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The federal government does a lot of economic data dumps.
0:03.3	Seems like every day there's a new important statistic that comes out about how our economy is doing.
0:08.8	But last week was a humdinger of data dumps, and a lot of it has an impact on your personal economy.
0:14.6	So today, we'll walk you through some of it.
0:27.9	Welcome to NerdWallet's Smart Money Podcast, where you send us your money questions and we answer them with the help of our genius nerds.
0:28.6	I'm Sean Piles.
0:30.5	And I'm Elizabeth Ayola.
0:36.2	Later this episode, we'll be looking at credit card fees and which ones are worth spending money for perks.
0:59.0	But first, our weekly money news roundup, where we break down the latest in the world of finance to help you be smarter with your money. Our news colleague, Anna Hilhouski, is here with fellow news nerd Rick Vanderknife to walk us through some of the big economic statistics that came out recently. And we're going to hear a bit more about tariffs, too, right, Anna? Yeah, that's right. And Rick and I've been digging deep into all the huge stats that came out last week.
1:04.6	Rick, what would you call last week? A monster week for economic data or we were pretty stressed.
1:13.1	It was a monster week in the middle of a monster year generally for economic news. And, yeah, it kind of hit a crescendo last week.
1:17.3	I worry that it's not going to slow down anytime soon. What we're going to try and do here today is make it all a little bit more digestible for people, starting with kind of the big headline last week.
1:23.2	And right now, it's just tariffs. And in case you missed it or you're not a regular listener,
1:27.8	we're in the midst of a trade war. And last week, it escalated. Now, just a disclaimer, we are
1:33.2	recording on Wednesday. So if there's been any changes that we haven't mentioned, that's why we
1:37.0	haven't. This morning, for instance, President Trump announced an additional 25% tariff on India
1:42.1	as a punishment for purchasing Russian oil. And that's bringing India's
1:46.2	tariff rate to a whopping 50%. Now, Rick, there's already a bunch of tariffs that were in place
1:52.6	way prior to today. A time. Yeah, yeah. 50% tariff on steel and aluminum and steel related products.
2:00.7	25% tariff on automob aluminum and steel related products, 25 percent tariff on
2:02.2	automobiles and car parts, 17 percent tariff on tomatoes from Mexico. So it kind of runs
2:08.5	the gamut. And some of the latest ones, 50 percent on copper and 40 percent on countries
	...

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