WSJ What’s News - Why Tariff Bills Are Catching Online Shoppers by Surprise

Episode Date: September 16, 2025

P.M. Edition for Sept. 16. Last month, the Trump administration changed a rule that meant that packages worth $800 or less were subject to tariffs. WSJ reporter Esther Fung discusses how that’s playing out for sellers, consumers and shipping companies. Plus, House Republicans have unveiled a spending bill that, if passed, would prevent an Oct. 1 government shutdown. But, as Journal congressional reporter Siobhan Hughes says, they have ignored Democrats’ demands, setting the stage for intense negotiations. And Utah prosecutors announced seven charges against Tyler Robinson in the shooting death of Charlie Kirk, saying they will seek the death penalty. Alex Ossola hosts. Listen: Why IBM's CEO Thinks His Company Can Crack Quantum Computing Watch: Why IBM's CEO Thinks His Company Can Crack Quantum Computing Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When you're with Amex Platinum, you get access to exclusive dining experiences and an annual travel credit. So the best tapas in town might be in a new town altogether. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. House Republicans determined to avoid a government shutdown are setting themselves up for a fight with Democrats. Plus, surprise, online shoppers are getting stuck with unexpected bills for tariffs.

In May and June, the CBP Customs and Border Protection said that the number of packages with items worth $800 or less arriving in the U.S. each day fell to $1,000. down from an average of $4 million last year. And IBM is making a big bet on quantum computing. Will it pay off? It's Tuesday, September 16th. I'm Alex Osloff for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of What's News,

the top headlines and business stories that move the world today. The Federal Reserve's September meeting kicked off today. And even before any decision about rate cuts has been announced, the meeting is already shaping up. to be a strange one. It follows months of attacks from President Trump over the Fed's reluctance to lower rates and legal dramas that have cast doubt on who will attend the meeting. That part, at least, has been settled. Stephen Myron, who was confirmed last night by the Senate, is in attendance. And so is Lisa Cook, after a federal appeals court rejected an emergency

request from the Trump administration to remove her ahead of this meeting. The Trump administration said it would appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Because the Fed is widely expected, to cut rates at this meeting, investors will be watching whether Fed Chair Jerome Powell and his colleagues pencil in a total of three rate cuts this year or stick with the two that a slim majority anticipated when the labor market looked sturdier in June. Answers tomorrow. House Republicans have unveiled a spending bill that, if passed, would prevent a government shutdown on October 1st. But it omits a key provision sought by Democrats, setting the stage for a bruising fight. Shavon Hughes covers Congress for the journal.

Shavon, what is the point of contention here? The main point of contention is over whether or not to include some enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies as part of the bill. These are subsidies that got put into law by Democrats during the pandemic. They expire at the end of the year and Republicans chose not to renew them in their major new tax law. Democrats say it's urgent. Republicans say we just need to buy a little bit more time to keep the government open, and we can work on the fine points of how to extend those subsidies a little bit later. What else is in the bill? A big item has to do with member security. There is an extra $30 million so that individual lawmakers can reimburse police back home

for their work related to member security in the wake of Charlie Kirk's killing. There's also extra money for security for executive branch officials and members of the judiciary. There is a fix that looks like it would finally let the District of Columbia spend its taxpayers' own money that had been blocked from spending under the current spending law. So are Republicans able to pass this bill? Well, they're in a real game of chicken right now with the Democrats. In the House, the chances are a lot greater that Republicans can pass this bill. But its fate is by no means assured in the Senate where Republicans are going to need some Democratic

votes to get this across the finish line. And so the question is really who blinks if anyone does. Will Republicans blink and cave in to the Democrats' demands on health care subsidies? Will the Democrats blink in an effort to stave off a shutdown? Or will we, in fact, end up in a spot that we were in during President Trump's first term where the government shuts down? That was WSJ reporter Shavon Hughes. Thanks, Shavon. Thank you. U.S. retail sales rose by 0.6% in August, according to the Commerce Department, which also revised up is July figure. The data defied expectations for a slowdown last month when hiring slowed and inflation picked up. Separate data today indicated import prices,

which exclude duties and transportation costs, rose unexpectedly by 0.3% last month. Major U.S. indexes were flat to modestly lower today. The Dow dropped about 0.3%, and the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ both fell about 0.1%. You might recall that last month we were talking about the end of the de minimis exemption for low-cost goods. So packages worth less than $800 that were once allowed to enter the U.S. tariff-free are now being levied. To hear how that's playing out, I'm joined by WSJ reporter Esther Fung. Esther, I remember talking to you not all that long ago about how consumers and companies were really fearing the worst here.

Has that come to pass? How is all this going? It's been a mixed bag. Some sellers, they are absorbing the tariffs, and they might include the tariffs in the price of the goods itself or they added at checkout process. The confusing thing that's happening right now for several consumers is when the sellers say the U.S. consumer is responsible for paying the tariff. These consumers are now getting surprised tariff bills from FedEx, UPS, or DHS, and they feel blindsided by an additional tariff bill that comes with their package. So how are consumers reacting? Some people have told me that they are now more concerned and paying more attention to what they buy from abroad.

And there are some consumers who say they're holding back purchases. So there's a lot of weight and see. And how are sellers dealing with this? More and more businesses are trying to prepay the tariffs. Some of the U.S. consumers are also complaining about the processing or brokerage fees. that UPS, FedEx and D.HL also charge on top of collecting the tariffs. UPS, FedEx, and DHS told me that they're collecting tariffs on behalf of the U.S. government. The money is not something that goes into these companies' coffers.

All around, all these nasty surprises, not good customer experience and sellers. They're trying to adapt to this new environment. And if they still want access to the U.S. market, they'll have. to figure this out. WSJ reporter, Esther Fung. Thank you, Esther. Thank you. Utah prosecutors unveiled seven charges today against Tyler Robinson in the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The charges include aggravated murder, felony discharge of a firearm, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. Prosecutors said they would seek the death penalty. Coming up, IBM is betting on quantum computing, but are they too?

too early? That's after the break. Did you lock the front door? Check. Close the garage door? Yep. Installed window sensors, smoke sensors, and HD cameras with night vision? No. I... And you set up credit card transaction alerts, a secure VPN for a private connection, and continuous monitoring for our personal info on the dark web?

Uh, I'm looking into it. Stress less about security. Choose security solutions from TELUS for peace of mind at home and online. Visit TELUS.com slash Total Security to learn more. Conditions apply. After spending much of the 2010s in the doldrums, IBM has made something of a comeback in the past five years. The success of its hybrid cloud business and consulting services have led to a surge in the company's stock price. IBM's CEO, Arvind Krishna, is hoping that the next few years will be,

even better for the company, as it makes a big bet on quantum computing. Krishna recently spoke with WSJ's bold names podcast about what the company needs to do to get quantum to scale. Quantum is pretty straightforward. To maintain the momentum, we have to grow a very large ecosystem on quantum, so the use cases multiply, and we might perhaps collect 10% of the value, 90% of the value should go to the people and the consumers of the technology, not to us. So educating people, teaching them how to use quantum, unlocking their imagination is a big part of what we have to do. And I'm honest about the 1090 tradeoff. I think that that is where it has to go.

Otherwise, the technology doesn't really scale. For more, I'm joined now by WSJ business columnist and bold names co-host, Tim Higgins. Tim, IBM is coming out of this period that was defined by Watson, its artificial intelligence system, that the company struggled to monetize, as you say in the episode, it was maybe a bit ahead of its time. Is the company, again, maybe too much ahead of its time with quantum? You know, it's an interesting question. It's definitely this race with the likes of Google and other big tech names who see this huge potential for this kind of next generation technology. One of the big differences this time around from IBM compared to previously with Watson is that it seems to be temperament.

expectations a little bit, not leaning so heavily into the idea that the world is changing right now, yet still trying to stoke some of that excitement about what is possible. We've seen how many companies are still trying to monetize AI even now, despite all this hype. Is IBM at a place to monetize quantum computing anytime soon? No, not yet. That's a really great question. It's one of the things that I wanted to know because a lot of the way he talks about this technology almost seems like science fiction. And when does the sci-fi become real?

And he's talking about four to five years out for a return, something like 20, 29, 2030. So not today, but on the near-term horizon. Let's get onto your podcast. You're back after a little bit of a break, and I can't help but notice. One of the biggest differences is that you're now on video. What has that been like?

Yeah, we're back and bigger than ever. It's the video's a thing to do. So you can finally look at my face. I don't know if you want to, but I know my mother's happy. But really, at the core, the show is still the same. And that is this idea that we are having these conversations with some of the world's most interesting people, business leaders, about the challenges of business that they are facing, how they are addressing them. And now viewers and listeners get to come along with us. And after your interview with the CEO of IBM, what are some topics you?

expect to talk about on the show in the next few weeks. Oh, yeah. Please stay tuned. China is top of mind. This is the geopolitical situation. It's very hard for U.S. companies to kind of plot forward how to adapt to a rapidly changing world. Tariffs are always of interest. And of course, Mims and I are big into AI and how that is changing the world and the way that companies think about how they're going to do business. Tim Higgins now available in all formats. That was WSJ Business Columnist and Bold Names co-host, Tim Higgins. Thank you, Tim.

Thank you. To watch or listen to the most recent episode of Bold Names with Tim Higgins and Christopher Mims, check out the links in our show notes. And finally, YouTube is entering its AI era. Starting today, it's making V-O-3, Google's new AI video generator that's giving game developers and filmmakers jitters available to normal users for short videos. Users in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and several other countries

will get access first. Released in May and available to paying Google AI subscribers, Vio is met with a mixture of awe and apprehension from people across industries because of its advanced capabilities and ability to generate matching video and sound. And that's what's news for this Tuesday afternoon. Today's show is produced by Pierre Bienname and Rodney Davis with supervising producer Michael Cosmedes.

I'm Alex Oslo for The Wall Street Journal. We'll be back with a new show tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening.