New tariffs, same headaches for small businesses

Tariff troubles continue for small businesses across the country. A few weeks ago, the Supreme Court ruled against President Donald Trumps’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to wage a tariff war across the globe. In response, the White House imposed a blanket 10% tariff on most nations.

In some cases, the new policy is a big discount for countries that faced tariffs which escalated at the whims President Trump. For others, it may be an unexpected boost in ongoing trade negotiations.

As U.S. businesses race to see what the end of IEEPA tariffs will mean for their bottom line, “Marketplace Morning Report” host Sabri Ben-Achour spoke with Rachel Rozner, owner of Elden Street Tea Shop in Reston, Virginia, about how tariffs continue to affect her business. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.

Sabri Ben-Achour: Is it not kind of a math problem, trying to navigate like, which tariffs went away and then are replaced by which other tariffs at this point, so far?

Rachel Rozner: We try to keep up with the percentage. We do have a couple of industry wholesale companies and vendors that are closely watching every time these tariffs change, which is helpful, but also they are, you know, kind of using it as an advantage as well, saying, “Oh, you better get your prices locked in before it changes.” And that's not really great either. It creates a scarcity. So it's, it's just kind of more of the same stress, more of the same fear and more of the same problem.

Ben-Achour: A lot of companies are suing to get refunds. Are you?

Rozner: With legal fees and the time and the commitment to it, we have to weigh out those pros and cons, and we are still considering whether that's an option for us or not.

Ben-Ahour: I assume the government's not going to just automatically refund you without you having to work for it.

Rozner: No, we're definitely going to have to fight for it and if we do, as the President said, it could take, you know, several months to years to get that money back. And I think a lot of consumers also believe that they have rights to that money. But as a small business owner, having to pay for these tariffs upfront with money that we don't necessarily have and have had to take loans out so that consumers can continue to purchase those products, it really constrains the ability to move forward for small businesses to get that money that that they need.

Ben-Achour: Do you think that prices would come down now or in the future? Or are things too kind of crazy to know?

Rozner: I don't think that prices are going to come down anytime soon, because until we recoup the cost of what we paid with the tariffs on the products that we purchased or didn't purchase. Some businesses had to leave their stock at the port. Until we recoup those costs, then, you know, we can't lay down our prices. And not only that, just the general price of everything has gone up. And unfortunately, this has a trickle down effect to my business. And I do think that if we push harder, that we would definitely lose customers if we go any higher.