Small business owners are facing an uncertain future as they try to navigate president Donald Trump's trade wars.
Some large corporations, such as Home Depot, have ruled out price hikes to account for higher prices due to Trump's tariffs, while Nike and Walmart intend to raise some of their prices, but some small business owners are reluctant to pass on those costs to their customers and are instead trying to cut costs where they can, reported NBC News.
“The whole point of it, when we went into the toy production, was to make a durable, affordable toy for families and children,” said Jeremiah Chamberlain, who owns a 3-D printing business with his wife. “Nothing’s going to make me raise prices unless it’s a matter of me having to shut the business down totally.”
Chamberlain has cut ties with a Chinese supplier that raised the cost of the bulk filament he uses to fabricate toys, and he's had to limit color options that aren't available from American and Canadian vendors, but many small business owners see the ever-changing tariffs as an existential threat.
“When you go back and forth from 10 percent to 140 percent to 30 percent, and now you’ve got a blanket ambient tariff regime, it is impossible to plan,” said Richard Trent, executive director of the Main Street Alliance advocacy group. “Small-business owners are operating on such thin margins. The least that we could do is give them a modicum of stability.”
Dan Jones, who owns the clothing company Jeans Day Apparel with his wife, let go of the high school workers who worked part time for $12 to $15 an hour to offset the increased cost of ink, printing paper and clothes to prevent passing on those costs to their customers.
“We have to be able to cut costs somewhere, and labor is the easiest place,” Jones said, adding that he and his wife have less time for their family due to their increased workload. “We just don’t know what the future looks like. It’s the unknown that’s very scary.”
Amelia Morgan, who sells trophies and plaques from her business Recognitions Awards and More, said costs have increased by 20 percent on the materials she uses, and she won't be able to eat the added costs for much longer.
“We’ve got people who depend on us to be able to pay the mortgage, be able to buy groceries, make car payments,” Morgan said. “We have to make sure that we stay profitable.”