Beth Benike is a mother, a veteran and owner of a small business – and she sounds the alarm. “I told all my friends and family that everything you want for Christmas, to get it right away, especially if you buy for children. If you buy babies at all, provide them while they are there, because they will disappear.”
After a decade which served in the army, parked in Bosnia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond, Benike started Busy Baby, a Minnesota company which designs and sells nacards and utensils for babies and toddlers. All of its products are made in China. And now these products are subject to the 145% tax of President Trump on Chinese imports.
CBS News 
“We have three months of products sitting at the factory,” said Benike. “And now, to get it here, we need $ 230,000 in addition to what we have already paid for the product, just to obtain it in the country.”
“Can you afford it?” I asked.
“Oh my God, no,” replied Benike.
“So what are you doing?”
“First of all, I sat on the floor of my kitchen and I cried,” said Benike. “And when I was on the ground in the kitchen, my son came to show me something or say something to me, and he saw me sitting there, crying. My eight -year -old son … and he put his arms around me and just hugged me. And, as, I realized that I do not let him see. This is not what we are going to be.”
The prices struck just after Benike concluded an agreement to sell occupied baby products at Target and Walmart. To produce enough inventory, it contracted a loan from the Small Business Administration. “This loan is partially funded by SBA, then partly exploited against my house,” said Benike. “So, if I can’t stay in business and pay for these loans, I lose the house.”
Inside the Benike warehouse, that’s what remains:
CBS News 
Once this inventory is sold, Benike said: “Then we are out of product. Then we are sold. We have nothing to come.”
One of the Benike Supplies retailers is Little Roo’s, in Chaska, Minnesota. The owner, Marissa Holdling, says that she has seen a change in behavior of buyers since the introduction of prices. For the first time, it allows customers to store baby register gifts, such as Benike’s busy baby’s mats. In this way, family and friends can always get what they need, often for baby showers.
CBS News 
“You can no longer make a register, because the products are not guaranteed that it will always be on the shelf,” said Held-Nordling. “So, at this stage, I allow people to come and fill a tank, and they can get their exact colors … Then I close the bac and I remove this product from my website.”
While the United States and China are starting commercial talks, economists always expect most goods to become more expensive – or even slip out of stock, from electronics to toys. The Yale budget laboratory says the prices could add almost $ 5,000 per year to family household expenses.
Kyla Scanlon, economic analyst and author of “In this economy? How really work money and markets,” said: “It’s probably a smart moment to take advantage of this strange and uncertain moment to make sure you have what you need, just in case prices become more expensive. If you don’t need something right away, many financial advisers recommend that you start to pad your emergency fund and put money next to it.”
I asked: “Are these prices necessary to rebalance the global economy?”
Crown motto 
“I don’t think it was necessary,” laughs. “The targeted prices are correct. But when you make general and general prices AllAnd when the rate is confusing, when small businesses do not know how to invest, they do not know what they should spend money – it is simply not a good economic environment. “”
The legality of the Trump administration has bypassed the congress to implement prices is disputed before the courts. President Trump says he imposed these prices in part to bring manufacturing to the United States
When asked on “Meet the Press” from NBC if there were discussions on the relief of small businesses, Trump replied: “They will not need it. They will earn so much money, if You build your product here. “”
But Benike says that it is impossible-that the manufacture of its products in the United States is too expensive: “The cost of land is higher here. The cost of insurance, building, electricity, employees. And these factories that now produce in the United States, the raw materials they bring are also tariff.”
It is an untenable situation, even for someone as successful as Benike. Last week, she was recognized for the success of her business – while she was worried about her survival.
“I was in DC to receive my Small Business Person of the Year Award at the most fanciful hotel in DC, with my son in his adorable little costume and bow tie,” she said. “And I sat there by feeling defeated. Where I would have liked to celebrate this, now I have to prove it.”
However, she does not give up. She is inspired by a sentence she picked up in the army: improvising, adapting and overcoming.
“So Plan B is how to become a global brand,” she said.
“And not to sell in the United States?” I asked.
“For now,” said Benike, adding, “it will come back one day.”
“Do you have faith?”
“I do it. I have faith. It will come back one day. It cannot last forever.”
For more information:
History produced by John Goodwin and Emily Pandise. Publisher: Karen Brenner.
See also:
