new York
Cnn
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For some small businesses, last week has brought even more twists and turns to the last two months of chaotic prices of President Donald Trump.
The situation was already confusing, with stops and departures of prices at different levels. Then Wednesday, an American courtyard said Trump has exceeded his authority in the imposition of most of these import samples – only for a court of appeal Thursday break the decision of the previous court.
Confusion has made it difficult for some small businesses to plan, said business owners at CNN. In some cases, they had to consider modifying their product strategy, seeking to move their supply chains, reduce staff hours or delay products.
“My fear is that, if that continues, there will be the mass extinction of small businesses,” Julie Robbins, CEO of guitar Maker, Julie Robbins told CNN.
Trump announced General prices around the world on April 2And since then, his plans have changed regularly.
In early April, he delivered A 90 -day break On reciprocal prices almost everywhere, except China. Then, after increasing the total prices on Chinese imports to 145%, he declared smartphones and certain other electronics would be exempt reciprocal prices. The United States and China agreed in May to Ride the reciprocal prices for 90 days. And at the end of May, he Mentilators of threatened smartphones like Apple With 25% of prices if they do not make their phones in the United States. He also agreed to Pushing imports from the European Union Until July 9.
These are just some of its changes, which can happen at any time of the day via the White House, publications on social networks or other avenues.
The rabbit was difficult to follow for businesses. Even big brands like giant gap Feel the impact of prices, but small businesses with much less resources are in an even more difficult place. THE Optimism index of small companies of the national federation of independent companies fell 1.6 points in April, diving below 51 years for the second consecutive month. The organization’s chief economist Bill Dunkelberg cited uncertainty as a “major obstacle” for small business owners in a press release.
“This is the kind of smaller and more niche … Brands that really go, really hitting this,” CNN Jack Leathem, analyst of the market research company Canalys, in April.
Some owners of small businesses had to make difficult decisions because they faced the impact of prices. Eveanna Manley, whose company Manley Labs manufactures high -end electronics for recording studios, had to reduce the hours of its employees by 25%.
The reciprocal rates that China has imposed in the United States have been particularly difficult, she said, since China has become a major market for its business. Manley says it took “decades” to “get the best Chinese importers”.
Overall, Manley Labs’ Sales are down more than 19% compared to last year, she told CNN, which froze the company’s development efforts.
“It’s just a scary mess right now,” she said at the end of May, before last week’s court decisions on Trump’s prices. “And I’m so angry that my own government did this to me.”
The best thing that small businesses can do right now is to be flexible and diversify their supply and supply strategies, explains Tala Akhavan, head of the Pietra exploitation, a platform that helps brands for supply, production and logistics among other services.
This is what robotic intuition, which makes a domestic robot designed to be a companion For the elderly, made, according to the director of the strategy Assaf Gad.
The company also earns money on its digital subscription accounts, according to GAD, giving it flexibility to examine a “plan B” outside of China to produce the company’s equipment. Sudden changes in pricing policies have not really had an impact on the decisions of the company, because it provides for the nine at 12 months rather than the short term, he said in mid-May.
Trump’s prices have encouraged Gad Remember to extend robotic intuition on international markets.
“Maybe it’s also the right time to say:” Let’s not put all the eggs in a single basket, “he said,” and, you know, let’s start looking for other types of territories that will reduce the risk for us in the future. “”
But for some companies, finding a plan B is not so easy. This is the case for Sarah O’Leary, CEO of Willow, which manufactures breast pumps and portable accessories. As a medical devices, Willow cannot just move its manufacture, O’Leary told CNN. The company had to take a break by exporting a product it produces in China for postpartum recovery at some point because it has become too expensive.
On Wednesday, the decision to block many prices brought a certain relief, said O’Leary in a statement sent by email on Thursday evening. But she recognized that there was still “so much uncertainty”, adding that “chaos will persist”.
All prices, even the stockings, would be difficult to absorb for a small business like hers, she said in mid-May.
“We are not building our products with so much margin,” she said. “And therefore, unfortunately, we are in a position where we have to assess what we can do to survive in these contexts.”