The Commerce Department's latest figures reveal a precipitous 0.9% contraction in US retail sales for May, compounding April's more modest 0.1% dip, a downturn widely imputed to a marked deceleration in automotive sales subsequent to March's artificial inflation driven by consumers preempting President Trump's proposed 25% levy on imported vehicles and components; notwithstanding flagging consumer sentiment, however, persistently benign inflationary pressures and a robust employment landscape may yet sustain a modicum of expenditure in the near term, evidenced by a 0.4% uptick in sales excluding volatile sectors such as gasoline, automobiles, and restaurants, intimating continued, albeit circumspect, consumer engagement with discretionary purchases, with notable gains accruing to online vendors, apparel outlets, and purveyors of home furnishings, despite widespread sectoral retrenchment, the overarching deceleration in retail activity being increasingly ascribed to anxieties surrounding tariff-induced price escalation stemming from the incumbent administration's trade policies.