Bamby
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While President Trump positions blame for trade-war-related pain in America squarely on China: " China has openly stated that they are actively trying to impact and change our election by attacking our farmers, ranchers and industrial workers because of their loyalty to me, " Scott Lincicome, senior policy adviser at Republicans Fighting Tariffs via Reason.com, disagrees, Lincicome points out that this is a "Trump Tax" - businesses of all sizes have seen their input costs rise because of Trump's tariffs. To maintain already slim profit margins, many of these businesses have no choice but to raise prices.
But not all businesses can offset tariff costs through price increases, because their customers are price sensitive and will simply take their business to a foreign competitor. These companies have been forced to take cost-cutting measures such as laying off employees or forgoing expansion.
Then there are the countless farmers and exporters who have seen their markets dry up as trading partners impose retaliatory tariffs.
But not all businesses can offset tariff costs through price increases, because their customers are price sensitive and will simply take their business to a foreign competitor. These companies have been forced to take cost-cutting measures such as laying off employees or forgoing expansion.
Then there are the countless farmers and exporters who have seen their markets dry up as trading partners impose retaliatory tariffs.
- '47 Brand Hats: The Massachusetts company, which faces higher raw material costs thanks to Trump's tariffs, cannot find domestic suppliers to produce hats. It is considering job cuts to compensate.
- 5th Avenue Energy: This small California renewable energy firm found that lighting fixtures and other Chinese imports are more expensive and harder to obtain because big contractors bought them up in anticipation of tariffs.
- A-1 Signs: The Tennessee manufacturer depends on competitively priced steel to fabricate products and compete in a global marketplace. Tariff-induced steel price spikes have forced it to lraise prices, hurting consumers and pushing them toward cheaper foreign competitors. If A-1 cannot retain its customers, it will have to lay off employees.
- ABB: The Missouri electrical manufacturer is considering raising prices for its transformers because of tariff costs, at the risk of being undercut by foreign competitors.
- Able Steel Fabricators: The Arizona manufacturer says the construction industry will come to a "screeching halt" when customers refuse to pay the higher prices that tariffs will bring or subcontractors will be forced to eat the increased costs.
- Accu-Swiss: The California precision-part manufacturer has been forced to turn off the lights while keeping its machines on in an attempt to absorb the cost increases caused by tariffs.
- Alcoa: The aluminimum-product manufacturer cut its profit forecast ranges by $500 million, citing tariffs on aluminum it imports from Canada.
- Alfa: The processed-food maker switched to Canadian, European, and South American suppliers to avoid tariffs.
- All Metals Industries: The New Hampshire metal-service center has been forced to turn down large orders from potential customers because it can't source material due to tariffs.
- Amber Ox Public House: The Virginia brewer has seen a rapid drop in can availability, while prices have increased.
- American Keg: The Pennsylvania stainless-steel beer keg manufacturer was forced to lay off 10 of its 30 employees because of tariff-induced costs. It has passed on some of the costs through higher prices, leading some customers to switch to foreign vendors. "We have a lot of patriotic customers that want to buy USA-made kegs with U.S. labor and U.S. steel," the company's CEO says, "but they're only going to go so far as that price difference continues to rise."
- Americana Development: The Ohio wheel maker has been forced to raise prices due to tariff costs. As a result some customers have taken their business to Chinese suppliers.
- Arrow Fasteners: The staple manufacturer cannot pass along tariff-related increases in input costs to customers because they would just turn to foreign competitors. "We're stuck," says the owner.
- AutoZone: Tariffs are forcing the auto parts chain to raise prices on components made with steel, such as rotors and other brake parts.
- Auvil Fruit Company: The Washington fruit company is being squeezed by its Chinese customers because of retaliatory tariffs. It's faced with a choice between sacrificing sales and dramatically reducing prices to account for the tariffs. "We lose all negotiating power or leverage in that equation," the company's CEO says, "because you can't just sit on the supply and hope they give in. Our products will rot. So we sell and try to recover as much of our upfront cost as we can, just to minimize the damages." Auvil has lost more than $2.2 million in profit.
- Batesville Tool & Die: The Indiana company may be forced to shift some production to a plant in Mexico in response to higher steel prices caused by tariffs.
- Neal Beam: Tariffs have reduced the Kansas farmer's soybean crop prices by $150 per acre.
- Bertram Yachts: The Florida boat maker lost a $4 million yacht sale in Europe because of retaliatory tariffs.
- Black Cat Wear Parts: The Iowa manufacturer has missed growth and capital equipment opportunities because of tariffs.
- BMW: The carmaker says tariffs could lead to "negative effects on investment and employment in the United States."
- Boeing: The aircraft maker's stock price cratered because of worries that tariffs will cause China to shift purchases to Airbus.
- Boulder International: The U.S. e-cigarette designer was forced to raise prices and shelve hiring plans due to tariffs on Chinese manufacturing.
- Brilliant Home Technology: The California startup was forced to boost prices on its Wi-Fi-connected "smart" light switches from $249 to $299 because of Trump's tariffs.
- Brinly-Hardy: The Indiana lawn care company, which has been in business since 1839 and survived the Civil War, has had to lay off 75 employees because of tariff costs.
- Brunswick Boat Group: The boat maker warns that tariffs could cause a drop in sales and layoffs.
- Ronald Burris: "The value of the crop is taking a beating," says the Indiana farmer. "There could be some trying times this fall."
- Bush Brothers and Company: The canned baked beans company has experienced an 8 percent decline in its revenue because of higher steel prices.
- CAID Industries: The Arizona industrial metal fabricator has been forced to stretch jobs from weeks to months because it takes a couple of months to find material due to tariffs. The company has had to shelve some projects.
- Case Medical: The medical instrument manufacturer is absorbing some of the tariff costs but cannot source enough U.S.-based supply to manufacture domestically.
- CaseLabs: The California PC case maker has been forced into bankruptcy and liquidation because of Trump's tariffs, which raised its costs by almost 80 per cent.
- Caterpillar: The tractor company faces $200 million in tariff-related costs in the second half of 2018, forcing it to raise prices.
- Cedar Ridge Winery: "They already have impacted our business," the winery's owner says. "When you hear about a tariff, you think we're just going to raise the price in the other country. But it's not their problem; it's our problem, especially when you're trying to start a new relationship with a new distributor in a foreign country. We ate the bulk of it. So yeah, it's definitely affecting the bottom line."
- Chibitronics: Tariffs have forced the New Jersey education technology manufacturer to choose between immediate price increases and cutting employee salaries.
- Chippewa Valley Bean Co.: Tariffs have drastically reduced the Wisconsin company's expectations to ship 60 percent of its bean exports, worth $25 million, to Europe. An English buyer threatened to abandon a shipment that had arrived in a British port. The company's president persuaded the buyer to take the $23,000 shipment and pay the nearly $6,000 tax, but the buyer then canceled $92,000 worth of orders. Tariffs have caused the bean company to end plans for new bins, an automated bagging system, an additional processing line, a warehouse, and an office building
- Chuck McCarthy: The North Carolina cold storage company has seen its Chinese pork customers dry up because of retaliatory tariffs.
- Cloud's Meats: The Missouri meat shop has seen the price of beef hides fall because of tariffs to the point where it's no longer profitable to sell them.
- Coca-Cola: The soft drink maker raised prices for soda and other beverages to offset tariff-induced cost increases for freight shipments and metals used in its bottling systems.
- Columbia Sportswear: The clothing company's mannequin costs have risen as a result of Trump's tariffs. "Not knowing week to week what the rules will be makes it difficult to invest," its COO says.
- Correct Craft: The Florida boat maker says its aluminum costs could rise 20 percent to 30 percent when its contracts are renegotiated this fall. Overseas sales, which make up about 30 percent of the company's revenue, are already nearly at a standstill.
- Council: The California design studio is experiencing difficulties related to metal sourcing because of tariffs, forcing it to move some of its fabrications abroad.
- Cummins: The engine and generator company faces $100 million in tariff-related costs in the second half of 2018.
- Daniel Paul Chairs: The furniture company struggles to enter competitive bids for hotel and office chairs without knowing what impact tariffs will have on material prices. The 25 percent tariff is higher than the profit margin on some bids.
- Dry Fly Distillery: The Washington company, a low-margin small business, is uncompetitive because of tariffs.
- Eastman Chemical: The company has put a hold on a five-year effort to sell ethylene plants in Texas because prices are falling as a result of China's retaliatory tariffs.
- Electrolux: The home appliance company faces $10 million in added second-half costs for imported parts.
- Element Electrics: The South Carolina television assembler plans to shut down and lay off nearly all of its 134 employees because of tariff costs.
- Emeco: The chair manufacturer faces 17 percent higher prices for aluminum because of tariffs.
- Engineered Materials Solutions: The Massachusetts car part manufacturer is losing millions of dollars due to Trump's tariffs and can't access the parts it needs domestically.
- Michelle Erickson: The Montana farmer says tariff-induced loss of markets will reduce incomes and jobs in farm communities.
- Fiat-Crysler: The carmaker is developing manufacturing contingency plans "on a massive scale."
- Flex-A-Seal: The Vermont mechanical-seal manufacturer says tariffs have raised the cost of raw materials by 30 percent in some cases. As a result, it has to raise its prices, which means losing business.
- Fluor: The oil and gas company gets some components for its plants from Chinese manufacturers. Its major methanol project in Louisiana could be delayed or canceled due to increased costs and uncertainty.
- Ford: The carmaker faces $300 million in extra costs this year due to escalating tariffs. It took a $300 million hit in the most recent quarter because of pricier commodities such as steel and aluminum, whose costs have been inflated by tariffs.
- Gerald Garber: "The market is geared for exports," says the Virginia farmer, who notes that the anticipation of tariff effects already has driven down milk prices, which were at a historic low.
- General Electric: The U.S. conglomerate, which faces $400 million a year in tariff-induced costs, is considering adjusting its supply chain to mitigate the effects.
- General Motors: The carmaker, which cut its earnings forecast for the year because of surging prices for steel and aluminum caused by tariffs, is considering cutting U.S. jobs.
- Gentex: The company, which makes rear-view mirrors for cars, cut its annual gross margin forecast, citing increased raw material costs of as much as $8 million in the second half due to Trump's tariffs.
- Grandall Industries: The Ohio construction equipment maker has had to postpone expansion plans, including 30 new employees, because of tariff costs.
- Green Acres Farm: "It's desperate out there in the dairy industry right now," says the owner of the Delaware dairy farm.
- Green Alternatives: The bottom line of the Indiana solar-panel installation company has been hurt by solar, steel, and aluminum tariffs. As a result, it is looking at layoffs and has abandoned plans to make capital investments.
- Green Valley Pecan Company: The Arizona farm says reduced Chinese consumption will increase pecan supply and reduce farm prices.
- Hallmark Homes: The Indiana homebuilder reports that lumber tariffs have had a big impact on pricing of new residential construction. Prices have risen about 20 percent, which could contribute to a broader housing-market slowdown.
- Harley-Davidson: The motorcycle manufacturer cut its profit margin forecast for the year due to tariffs, which are forcing it to move some production overseas.
- Harold Force: The construction company faces rising prices on items needed for contracts signed in less expensive, pre-tariff times. One of its biggest projects was canceled because of tariff-induced steel price hikes. "It's damaging in so many ways," says the owner. "Tariffs have put blood in the water."
- John Heisdorffer: "Soybeans are the top agriculture export for the United States, and China is the top market for purchasing those exports," the Iowa farmer says. "The math is simple. You tax soybean exports at 25 percent, and you have serious damage to U.S. farmers."
- Herman Miller: The Michigan furniture maker has seen dramatic price increases, making current domestic prices equivalent to import prices after tariffs.
- Hexcel: The aerospace materials supplier expects a tariff impact of $2 million to $3 million a year related to imports from China.
- HiberSense: The Pittsburgh-based HVAC manufacturer was forced to shift focus from building the company to protecting the company, diverting resources and annoying investors.
- Hopkins Manufacturing: The Kansas manufacturer has seen tariffs drive up prices on about 350 items made with steel and aluminum. It is raising prices to compensate.
- Hudson Pecan: The Georgia pecan grower has shelved plans to triple capacity, build another warehouse, and hire another 20 people because of tariff uncertainty.
- Hussey Seating Co.: The Maine bleacher manufacturer has seen steel prices rise by 45 per cent during the last year as a result of Trump's tariffs, throwing a monkey wrench into its locked-in contracts.
- Hyundai: Tariffs will push up production costs at the carmaker's Alabama plant by 10 percent a year.
- Illinois Tool Works: The company faces higher material costs due to tariffs.
- Independent Can Company: The Maryland cannery can't afford to pay higher prices for the steel it imports from Germany, and it can't get the steel it needs from domestic producers because U.S. Steel doesn't make steel coils that are big enough to meet its needs, and the quality is not good enough. Its customers have bailed as a result of supply problems.
- Infinity 8: The California exporter's shipments of cherries to China have fallen from 10,000 cartons last year to 240 this year because of retaliatory tariffs. Last year, it shipped 76,410 cartons of Valencia oranges to Shanghai. This year it has shipped 3,240. Last year it shipped 44,036 cartons of plums to Shanghai. This year it has shipped 170.
- Insteel Industries: The North Carolina concrete reinforcement maker says its customers are turning to foreign imports to find cheaper prices.
- James E. Pepper Distillery: The owner of the Kentucky distillery says "the tariffs were like a punch in the gut."
- Jack Daniels: The Tennessee distiller, which says the trade war is reducing profits, plans price increases to compensate.
- JAQ Matic Valve & Controls: The Wisconsin small business says tariffs are "severely hurting" profitability. It is passing costs on to customers and may have to lay off employees because it can't support its current work force without an export market.
- Jim Beam: The bourbon maker is considering price hikes next year as a result of retaliatory tariffs.
- JLab Audio: The U.S. headphone designer faces higher costs due to tariffs that it will have to absorb or pass on to its customers through price increases.
- Joann Fabric and Craft Stores: "The resulting tariffs on these targeted products will cause substantial harm to our customers, our employees and the economy as a whole," the chain's CEO says. "Our customers, many of whom are nonprofit organizations and small businesses which operate on tight budgets and retirees who are on fixed incomes, could not tolerate the increased pricing resulting from the tariff costs."
- Kia: Tariffs will harm the carmaker's U.S. operations and jeopardize plans for additional U.S. investments.
- Kimberly-Clark: Faces $200 million of higher input costs because of tariffs, the paper-products company is raising prices to compensate.
- Bernie Kosar: The Ohio farmer says he may not turn a profit on his crops due to China's retaliatory tariffs.
- Laitram: The Louisiana conveyer belt manufacturer has been put at competitive disadvantage with its foreign peers because tariffs have increased its steel prices by 12 percent to 14 percent. It is downshifting and delaying investments, falling behind its competitors, and hurting its suppliers and their suppliers.
- Lakeside Manufacturing: The Wisconsin medical equipment manufacturer, which has been in business for a quarter of a century, has never seen price increases like those caused by Trump's tariffs.
- Lennox International: The air conditioner maker, which forecasts $5 million in costs in 2018 from tariffs, is raising prices to offset the expenses.
- Lilitab: The California company, which makes iPad stands and kiosks, reports that a supplier raised prices for aluminum sign materials in anticipation of tariffs.
- Lincoln Electric: The welding equipment and supplies maker is raising prices on so-called consumables via surcharges to offset the costs of tariffs.
- Lippert Components: The Indiana RV and boat part maker has begun importing some additional components made from steel and aluminum and is considering importing more because there are cheaper alternatives overseas.
- Little Bay Lobster Co.: The New Hampshire company had a big market in China that has dried up because of retaliatory tariffs. It doesn't know how long it can pay its 75 employees, who aren't working.
- Louroe Electronics: The California company, which makes electric capacitors, has no choice but to pass tariff costs on to its customers, which may reduce its sales.
- Lucerne International: The Michigan auto supply producer says tariffs threaten the life of the company, the livelihood of its employees, and an intricate auto supply chain that creates hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs.
- M&B Metal Products Co.: The company may abandon plans to upgrade its factory near Birmingham, Alabama, which fashions steel wire into clothing hangers sold to dry cleaners and uniform-rental firms, because of tariff costs.
- M2S Bikes: The North Carolina electric-bike startup can't find comparable materials in the U.S. Tariffs add $435 to the cost of its bikes. As a result, expansion plans are on hold.
- MAHLE: The piston manufacturer faces about $1.7 million in increased costs from aluminum tariffs, along with tariff-induced costs for other Chinese products. It is passing costs along to its customers.
- Martin's Steel: The Pennsylvania steel manufacturer, which has seen the cost of aluminum rise by 45 percent and steel by 30 percent, has had to increase prices, hurting its customers.
- Maschhoff Family Foods: The Illinois pork producer stands to lose $100 million annually as a result of tariffs.
- McClatchy Newspapers: The company, which publishes of the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star, and more than two dozen other regional papers, laid off about 140 people, partly as a result of Trump's tariffs on Canadian newsprint.