When President Donald Trump announced a wide range of prices on April 2, Matt Rollens said he felt the mood change of the whole room.
“It was quite shocking,” said Rollens, who was surrounded by hundreds of business owners during a trade fair in Las Vegas at the time. “It definitely put a big brake on everyone’s mood, that’s for sure. Everyone was worried about it, thinking about (the announcement). And then when it happened, it was like” Oh, my God. (It is) worse than anyone planned. “”
While many of these specific prices in the country have since been interrupted for at least 90 days, the Trump administration has since placed additional prices on the United States from China, climbing at a total rate of 145%on Wednesday.
Rollens, 39, is one of the many owners of American companies who count with the implications of this price increase. He owns and chief of Dragon glasswhich employs four people at full time and on average around 5 million dollars in annual income, according to documents examined by CNBC.
The company manufactures and sells brand drinks, cocktail glasses with stainless steel cups, linked to popular movie and television franchises, such as “Barbie” and “Wicked”. It is mainly sold through retailers like Amazon and Walmart, and as many small American retail companies, Products are made in Chinese factories.
Before Trump’s announcement on April 2, Rollens prepared for higher commercial costs and thought about “eating” prices above 20%.
At 145%, the burden is untenable, he says: China’s prices are an “apocalyptic scenario for small businesses … which will put most of us to the bankruptcy of the months”.
The move of Chinese factories is not only “a question of cost”
Rollens joins a choir of American business owners and organizations that represent them, who has spoken out against pricing policies The fact that they say could increase their expenses, increase customer prices and potentially close their businesses.
The Trump administration praised the potential of prices to Boost interior manufacturing. Rollens says it is not realistic for small businesses like his.
He does not have the resources to “build our own factory here” and the attraction of Chinese manufacturing goes beyond production expenses, he says: “It is not even a question of cost. It is really a question of specialty and expertise.”
One of the Dragon Glassware factories uses a manufacturer of glass molds with decades of experience, and expertise to make products exactly to specifications, explains Rollens.
“This guy has been doing this for 40 years. It is the expert (and) he is incredible,” he said. “Does this person exist in the United States? I don’t know. Probably not.”
China was the second largest supplier of American products in 2024, after only Mexico, according to US Census Bureau data. And a 145% rate is too high for most importers even planning to bring goods to the United States, effectively closing trade with one of the country’s largest trading partners, Erica York, vice-president of federal tax policy at the federal tax foundation center, told CNBC “”The exchange“THURSDAY.
“Generally, if you get north of a three -digit rate, you cut most of the trades,” said York. “There may still be things without substitutes that companies simply have to pay the bill, but for the most part, it cuts it.”
“The longer it turns on, the more worse it goes”
With policies that change quickly – the Trump administration has publicly changed its price plans in China four times in 10 days – Rollens temporarily holds its products in China, hoping to wait for the budding trade between the two countries. He has enough inventory in the United States to last almost until June, he said.
Its options are limited. If he brings a new shipping of products under current policies, he will pay a tax of 145% of their declared total value, paying in advance to access the products he has not yet sold. This would probably force the rollers to increase prices by at least 50% – a leap that could dry consumers’ demand and leave an unsold inventory, which gives it no way to recover import costs, he said.
Rollens should also negotiate any price increase with his retail partners, with whom he concluded price agreements months ago for products that should be shipped this summer. “This is the most difficult conversation you can have” as a business owner, “he said. “It’s completely in disorder.”
Without a timely resolution, Rollens says that his business will suffer from it. As a general rule, it is the period of the year when Rollens is starting to plan new products for the 2025 holiday purchasing season, a busy period for each retailer. These plans are currently interrupted, and instead of projecting the growth of companies this year, he simply hopes to continue “walking on the water and … staying afloat”.
He is optimistic because he predicts that Trump will retreat the prices in China in the coming months. “I think it can only hang out for so long,” he said.
But if the prices remain in place at their current prices in June in June in June in June, he will probably be confronted with the prospect of dismissing employees or completely closing operations, he notes.
“The longer he gets longer, the worse he goes,” explains Rollens.
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