Some business owners warn that Donald Trump’s tariffs could hit everyday Americans the hardest, as companies pass rising production costs directly to consumers.
According to Reuters, 12 business leaders said Trump’s unpredictable decisions on which countries face tariffs—such as the 145% tariff now imposed on China—make it difficult to plan and manage their supply chains.
“We’re constantly dealing with the uncertainty of the future and of our future supply chains,” Steve Shriver, the founder and CEO of Eco Lips, a company that makes organic health and beauty products sourced from over 50 countries, told the news agency.
He continued, saying that the current pause on tariffs, and the tariff numbers themselves are too unpredictable to trust.
“I don’t trust it. It’s a 90-day pause. It could change again in 10 days. There are still 10% tariffs across the board, and that’s a substantial addition to our prices,” Shriver said.
Paul Kusler, the owner of Boulder, Colorado’s Into the Wind, a kite and toy store that has existed for 45 years, directly mentioned the tariffs on China as an existential threat to his business, which relies on imports from China.
“The tariffs on China are simply unworkable, it’s a serious threat to our business,” Kusler told Reuters. “We pay bills weekly. These price increases are happening now for items I already have in the door. People aren’t going to buy toys if they are worried about prices rising for food and other staples.”
Eva Kuhle, the owner of Epaulet, an L.A.-based menswear brand that makes all of its clothing in America, told Business Insider that the tariffs are too inconsistent to help American manufacturing, a goal that the Trump administration believes the tariffs are meant to accomplish.
“Donald Trump is a chaotic and unpredictable person. None of this is going to help manufacturing in America. No one is going to see that now there’s a 10% tariff on UK fabric and say, ‘Wow, this is an amazing business opportunity. Let me retool a woolen factory from scratch, all using my own money to match a tariff policy,’” Kuhle told Business Insider.
She continued, “We need a consistent policy that we can trust. We can’t have a policy where tariffs may or may not be enforced 90 days from now, and tariffs could also be any number whatsoever. Especially the really huge numbers — like 145% on China — these hysterical numbers make everything seem even less trustworthy.”
The bridal industry is uniquely vulnerable to the tariffs on Chinese imports, as many as 90% of bridal dresses are made in China.
According to Angie Oven, a bridal shop owner in Salem, Oregon, and the president of the National Bridal Retailers Association, the industry has finally recovered from the pandemic just to have to deal with tariffs.
“The overriding feeling is despair,” Oven, told Business Insider following a meeting with 75 of the group’s members. “There’s a little bit of PTSD right now because a lot of us really just recovered from COVID.”
Sandra Gonzalez, the vice president of the NBRA, also said that the trade group wants their industry to be added to the trade exemptions list.
“Our No. 1 goal is to be removed from the tariff list. We do not have the infrastructure to produce the quality of goods that brides are demanding of us,” Gonzalez said. “To build the factories and train the people, that would take a whole generation.”
According to Alicia Adams, the owner of Her’s Bridal and Special Occasion in Minden, Louisiana, the expectation is that if the tariffs hold, the increase in cost will be passed onto their customers, future brides.
“Now that it’s over 100%, obviously those manufacturers and designers aren’t able to absorb those costs. They’re going to have to pass it down to us, which means we would have to pass it down to our brides.”
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