As uncertainty and recession fears continue to surround Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs on U.S. trading partners, some financial experts are urging consumers to stock up on key goods that could become more expensive in the coming days — though they warn against the kind of fevered stockpiling that took place during the days of the Covid pandemic.

“I’d focus on big-ticket items. If you’re planning to buy a car and prefer an imported one, expect an immediate price impact. Compare your options and check which models have been affected so you can make an informed decision,” Ryan Haiss, a certified financial planner at Flynn Zito Capital Management, told MarketWatch.

The Trump administration has offered a 90-day pause on its reciprocal tariffs against many countries, though levies on China and a 25 percent import tax on foreign cars remain.

In the next six months to a year, vehicles in the U.S. could cost between $2,000 and $4,000 more due to the tariffs, Goldman Sachs estimates.

“Let’s not go full 2020 toilet paper crisis mode,” Haiss added. “No need to turn your garage into a Costco aisle, just be smart about buying what you actually use.”

Others pointed to electronics as a key area of concern, given that the administration said Sunday a recently authored exemption for digital products in the tariff regime could soon come to an end.

“TVs, handheld electronics, your Beats headphones — all are about to be very expensive,” financial planner Scooter Thomas told Good Housekeeping.

Trump has also said new tariffs could be put on pharmaceutical goods sometime soon.

While U.S. companies may be able to blunt some price impacts by negotiating new terms with their suppliers, or by selling inventory they got into the country before the tariffs took effect, experts expect consumers to feel the pain in the coming months.

“I think we’ll really see it by the middle of the summer when people go to do back-to-school shopping,” Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told The Washington Post this week.

Some buyers have already begun buying up household goods in anticipation of the tariffs, which are paid by U.S. companies, typically causing firms to raise prices on consumers to compensate.

"I'm buying double of whatever - beans, canned goods, flour, you name it," Thomas Jennings of New Jersey told Reuters, as he stockpiled ingredients in a Walmart Supercenter in Secaucus. "There's a recession coming and I am preparing for the worst.”

There might be some benefit to buying up items that won’t expire or require refrigeration — but don’t panic.

“Stocking up on essentials you know you will use like toilet paper or household cleaning products might make sense for some families, especially if you’re able to buy in bulk at today’s prices,” Henry Silva, a wealth management adviser at Apollon Wealth Management, told MarketWatch. “But overextending yourself and your budget or beginning to hoard items based on the fear of future cost doesn’t make sense.”

The tariffs are expected to function like a nearly $1,300 tax increase per U.S. household, according to the Tax Foundation.

Financial leaders have warned that Trump’s tariffs not only could cause a recession in the U.S., but a full-blown reordering of the global economy.

“We are having profound changes in our domestic order [...] and we're having profound changes in the world order. Such times are very much like the 1930s,” hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.

“So if you take tariffs, if you take debt, if you take the rising power challenging existing power, if you take those factors and look at the factors - those changes in the orders, the systems, are very, very disruptive,” he continued. “How that's handled could produce something that is much worse than a recession. Or it could be handled well.”

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