Tariff Uncertainty and Recession Fears Fuel the ‘No Buy’ Movement

With many Americans concerned that President Trump’s tariffs will make most products more expensive and possibly tip the United States into a recession, some consumers say they are opting out of spending on a wide range of items.

Instead of shopping lists, they are making “No Buy” lists.

No more outfits destined to be worn only once. No more “just because” T.J. Maxx runs. No more salon haircuts and manicures. No more eating out at restaurants. No more TikTok Shop.

This uncertain economic moment is reinvigorating a trend that took off early this year: No Buy 2025. (See also: “Low Buy” and “Slow Buy.”)

How it’s pronounced

/nō bī/

Even before the tariff threat, in thousands of videos on TikTok, users lamented how their closets and bathroom cabinets were filled to the brim with never-worn boots and years-old unopened face creams. They were unsubscribing from brands’ emails and texts, blocking retailers on X and opting out of personalized ads on TikTok. They promised themselves — and their followers — that they would stick to the challenge for the year.

It wasn’t necessarily a resolution to buy absolutely nothing. But many saw it as a moment to focus on “underconsumption.”

Now, with America imposing a minimum 10 percent tariff on nearly all its trading partners and a tariff of more than 100 percent on many Chinese goods, the no-buy challenge has become more urgent. People are preparing for higher prices on a range of products and, if a trade war drags on, the possibility that layoffs will follow and that they will have no choice but to cut back.

One TikTok user said she was adding “trendy clothes” from Shein and YesStyle to her no-buy list “because these things are getting tariffs on them anyway.”

Americans have flirted with the idea of commercial minimalism in the past, according to Silvia Bellezza, an associate professor at Columbia Business School. In a 2022 article she co-wrote with Anne V. Wilson, the authors draw a timeline of influences, including minimalist art in the 1960s, John Lennon’s plea to “imagine no possessions” in the 1970s and the now-famous 1982 photograph of Steve Jobs wearing a simple black sweater while sitting on the floor of his sparsely furnished room.

The concept of less is more came to the fore again in the 2010s, Ms. Bellezza said in an interview, as Americans were introduced to Marie Kondo’s concepts of decluttering through her book and Netflix series.

Social media has long encouraged people’s spending — or overspending — habits. The apps are rife with videos of influencers hawking everything from press-on nails to kitchen strainers.

But online platforms also have the power to give a face to this latest wave of minimalism.

“Social media allows you to make nonconsumption visible because it’s the act of nonconsuming that becomes Instagrammable,” Ms. Bellezza said.

The “No Buy” hashtag helps keep it “trendy and young,” she added.

(For what it’s worth, just as some…