New York (AP) – The main requests have been canceled. Product containers were left to be cut off abroad. No road map of what comes after that.
The Trump administration raised the customs tariffs on goods from China to 145 % in early April. Since then, small business owners who rely on imports from China have become increasingly desirable because they are annoying inventory and increasing bills.
president Donald Trump seemed to decline to some extent last week when he said he expected the definitions to decrease “significantly.” This helped to launch a march in the stock market. But for small companies that work on shaving margins, the back and back causes a tremendous revolution. Some say they may be just months of getting out of work completely.
Family Games Company in Massachusetts
Games makers are especially vulnerable to definitions because the majority of games and games sold in the United States are made in China, according to the Games Association.
Ws Game Co. It is based in Manchester thanks to the marine biography, Massachusetts, a family -owned company that licenses HASBRO games such as Monopoly, Candy Land and Scrabble and creates luxury copies of them. The most popular gaming collection comes in boxes that appear to be ancient books and sell them at $ 40.
The owner, Jonathan Silva, who founded his father in 2000, said that the company’s games appeared in the list of favorite things in Opera in 2024 and sold in 14,000 stores in North America, from large national chains to parent stores and pop.
All WS production is produced in China. The tariffs in 25 years of health growth have brought to stop screaming.
Over the past three weeks, the WS game got three containers of the final games, at a value of $ 500,000, and they were separated in China. Requests were lost from three of the largest retailers in the United States, totaling $ 16 million in business. There is not a lot of Silva you can do about it.
“As a small company, we have no runway or capabilities to transfer manufacturing on a whim,” said Silva, who has 22 employees. He said that the customs tariff “disrupted our actions and put on the verge of insolvency” and is estimated that he has about four months to stay on his feet if nothing changed.
“We really hope that cold heads will prevail,” he said.
Artificial flowers in Kentucky
Jeremy Rice’s home, a home store in Lexington, Kentucky, specializes in home flower arrangements. About 90 % of the flowers used by his business in China.
Rice uses dozens of sellers. The largest absorbs some costs of definitions and pass the rest. A sellers raise prices by 20 % and another 25 %. But the rice is expected to increase the smaller prices of prices much higher.
The house offers medium -range artificial flowers. The Grand Cuban head will retaliate for $ 10 to $ 16, for example. China is the only place that manufacturers of silk quality manufacturers. Rice said it takes years a seller to open a factory in a different country or transfer production elsewhere.
Rice Decor ordered his vacation early this year. But even after storing before the customs tariff, it only has enough daily flower stocks for two to three months.
“After that, I don’t know what we’re going to do,” he said.
Rice is concerned that the trade war will require a group of mother and pop stores, similar to what happened in the great recession and the epidemic.
“There is no place to turn, there is nothing to do,” he said.
Tea in Michigan
A tea store in the city of Michigan College was also arrested in the midst of the continuous tariff battle.
“It is essentially just a large hole in my stomach,” said Lisa McDonald, the owner of Teahaus, who is located in Ann Arbour, the home of the University of Michigan. McDonald has owned the Teahaus for nearly 18 years and sells tea to customers all over the United States
The Americans drank about 86 billion tried tea in 2024, according to the Tea Association in the United States of America. Almost all of this is imported because tea is not widely grown in the United States, due to factors ranging from climate to cost.
McDonald is imported loose papers from China, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka and other countries. She says her customer base is “from all over the United States and the world.” But she is concerned about an end to what they will spend. Its excellent tea can cost up to $ 33 for a 50 -gram bag.
“I don’t think I can impose a $ 75 fee for a 50g -tea bag, no matter how surprising this tea,” she said.
McDonald understands Trump’s logical basis for his desire to use the customs tariff to motivate us to manufacture, but he says it does not apply to tea industry.
She said, “We cannot grow tea in the United States to the extent that we need. We can not only turn the industry and” make tea great again “in America. It cannot happen.”
Car accessories in Oklahoma
Jim UMLAUF’s Business, 4 KNINES, based in Oklahoma City, manufactures vehicle seats and charging for dog owners and others. To do this, it needs raw materials such as fabric, coating and components of China.
UMLAUF has explored manufacturing in countries other than China since 2018, when Trump for the first time a 25 % tariff on goods from China, but he faced complications. Meanwhile, 4 KNINES absorbs the additional cost, which UMLAUF says it has limited its growth and pressed its margins.
Now, the new definitions make almost impossible to do business. The demand there, but the company cannot afford more products.
“We only have a limited amount of inventory, and without some relief, we will soon,” said UMLAUF.
As the owner of a small company worked hard to develop a high -quality brand, create job opportunities and contribute to society, UMLAF is frustrating. He tried to contact the White House and other decision makers to request support for small companies. But he received a zero response.
He said: “It is time for policy makers to consider the full impact of commercial policies not only on stock prices or global competitiveness, but the real people who run small companies.”
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AP Videojournist Mike Householder contributed to Detroit in this report.
