As Trump raises the import taxes on goods….
Amazon pushes to keep prices stable….
Something has gotta give….
The Washington Post highlights the push/pull that is starting to eat into American small business owners bottom line and could very well put them out of business at the ands of Amazon and big retailers…
Donald Trump is WRONG….
China does NOT pay the tariff import taxes….American consumers and companies do….
“Retailers are all about everyday low prices. They want to protect consumers, but they also want to protect their sales,” said Jason Trice, president of Jasco Products, a lighting and electronics seller in Oklahoma City. “The Walmarts of the world don’t just roll over.”
Small and midsize manufacturers without much ability to negotiate price increases with retailers and distributors say they have been absorbing much of the tariff costs themselves.
Jasco, a third-generation family-run business that designs products in the United States and manufactures in China, has had to cut in half monthly bonus payments to its 400 employees and donate less to charity, Trice said. Until last week, Jasco was facing 10 percent tariffs on goods representing 80 percent of its sales. Then President Trump raised those tariffs to 25 percent.
Man & Machine, a Landover, Md., seller of waterproof computer keyboards, is cutting one workday out of every two weeks to avoid laying people off. “I said, ‘We’re not going to meet payroll if we keep going like this,’ ” said founder and chief executive Clifton Broumand.
Scosche Industries, an Oxnard, Calif., electronics maker, says tariffs cost the company about half of its profits last year. Profit-sharing payments to employees have fallen to close to zero, and the company is desperately attempting to shift production from China to Vietnam, chief executive Roger Alves said.
After two months of negotiation, Amazon agreed to pay Maxsa 5.5 percent more for three versions of Park Right — a device that attaches to a garage ceiling and beams a laser to a fixed spot below, helping people park in tight spaces.
“Companies of all sizes throughout the supply chain are adjusting to increased costs resulting from new tariffs,” Amazon said in an emailed statement. “We’re working closely with our vendors to try to make this adjustment as smooth as possible.” It declined to comment on its dealings with Maxsa….