On a quiet autumn Sunday morning in Lansing, Michigan, Nicholas Kolacz pays $10—inclusive of a tip—for his weekly coffee at the Hob Nob cafe. That single cup amounts to $10, pushing him to cut back his visits from three or four days a week to once every Sunday. This financial squeeze reflects a broader national reality where the average price of a cup of coffee in the US is $US9.33 ($13), while the federal minimum wage is $US7.25 ($10.22).
Tariffs and Supply Chain Pressures Hit Small Businesses
Behind the counter, Hob Nob cafe owner Trisha Kosloski faces mounting overheads as delivery expenses jump 50 percent due to rising fuel costs. However, her most severe financial strain stems from a spike in coffee bean prices that occurred immediately after Donald Trump assumed office and introduced a series of blanket tariffs on nations where coffee is grown. Because the United States imports the vast majority of its coffee beans, those initial levies triggered a 30 percent price hike that persisted even after the courts struck down the original tariffs.
A large amount of the beans roasted in America … are actually roasted in Canada,
she says. Additional price increases occurred after the administration implemented tariffs on nations where coffee is grown. According to The Guardian, inflation had cooled to 2.3 percent by April 2025 following a 40-year peak of 9.1 percent in June 2022, but new trade levies pushed the rate back up to 3 percent by September 2025. In Trump’s view, his plan is working. The Trump-appointed Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, said that inflation is too high and has been for too long
.
Voter Frustration Mounts Over Fuel and Basic Necessities
Beyond morning beverages, American households are absorbing steep increases in daily transportation costs. Gasoline prices are hovering at roughly $US4.30 per gallon—about $US1 more expensive than the 2025 average—placing a heavy burden on drivers in sprawling Midwestern communities like Lansing. Gas is the number one thing that used to not be so much,
MSU student Samson Sprague says. I don’t know the last time I filled up my gas tank all the way.
A recent Pew Research Center survey cited by News.com.au reveals that 84 percent of early voters rank the economy as their primary concern. In Fort Lauderdale, Florida, health care worker Kyler Daugherty told AFP that rising expenses for food, transportation, and medicine have forced him to ration certain prescriptions. Meanwhile, Brookings Institution senior fellow William Galston points out that these cost pressures are directly tied to executive decisions regarding trade tariffs and the ongoing military conflict with Iran. It’s within the president’s power to remove most of the tariffs that he’s imposed,
Galston told AFP.
Economic Strain in Michigan’s Battleground Seventh District
Lansing sits squarely within Michigan’s Seventh Congressional District, a crucial political battleground where cost-of-living anxieties could reshape the upcoming electoral landscape. Local business owners are also grappling with the erratic nature of federal trade policy. Josh Mayo, who operates a legal cannabis business in Michigan, reports that packaging materials such as jars and tubes have seen price increases, compounded by costs.
While Mayo supports the overarching goal of revitalizing American manufacturing, he criticizes the abrupt execution of the tariff policies. For younger residents like MSU student Olivia Schneider, the macroeconomic climate has immediate personal consequences, rendering milestones like moving out into an independent apartment financially unrealistic. We continue to encourage those policymakers to really understand the data,
Hudson told AFP. But I think there’s a lot more changes have to happen before prices can go down,
she said.
