On Friday, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social an additional 100% tariff on Chinese goods starting Nov 1. Regardless of whether he follows through or not, this escalation in trade uncertainty is weighing on business owners. The only thing that is becoming clear in this tariff chaos is that it will likely continue.

Usually when Beth Benike sees a new tariff announcement, she jumps into action. On Friday, she turned off her phone. 

“I spiraled,” Benike said. “I mentally just lost it. I mean what do I do?”

Benike owns Busy Baby. The Minnesota company makes highchair placemats with tethers for toys, so they don’t fall on the ground. The products are manufactured in China.

“You’re going off of a Truth Social post and trying to figure out can I ship my products to get them here in time for the holidays or not?” Benike said.

The company is still making up for sales it lost when it ran out of inventory this summer after a tariff hike. Sales are down overall, she thinks because new parents are having to spend more on high-tariff necessities like car seats and cribs. And on top of all this, her husband is a soybean farmer caught in China’s soybean boycott. Benike is tired.

“I mean these were my inventions. This was the American dream,” Benike said. “And now it’s all at risk of being gone.”

Since Trump was elected nearly a year ago, business owners have been talking about tariffs. Today the energy is different. Frustration has shifted into desperation and defeat. Because for some companies, if this tariff tit for tat drags on…

“I mean we don’t make it,” said Greg Shugar, owner of Beau Ties of Vermont, and imports silk from China.

He’s looked at getting fabric from Vietnam, but making a big change seems silly when tariffs are constantly shifting. He’s trying to rush a shipment before the Nov. 1 deadline.

“Who wants to run a company where for at least the next three years you’re going to be dancing with the tariffs and not knowing where we’re headed?” Shugar said.

Because six months after Trump’s so-called Liberation Day, it’s clear that tariff uncertainty is a part of doing business, no matter where you import from. Ben Knepler, who co-owns True Places, a camping chair company in Pennsylvania, has put manufacturing in Cambodia on hold. He has until December to figure out whether he can pay whatever the tariff might be.

“We’d need to feel much more confident that the rules aren’t gonna suddenly change tomorrow,” Knepler said.

When asked what would give him that confidence, Knepler said at this point, nothing.