When Jeremiah Chamberlain and his wife, Harriet, launched their 3D printing business last March, tariffs were not high on the list of challenges to prepare.
“We didn’t expect this type of panic to occur,” said Chamberlain, owner-operator of Corvidae Creations in Hammond, Louisiana. However, in the months since President Donald Trump took office and launched the freewheel world trade war, Chamberlain spent thousands more dollars on Chinese 3D printers. Currently, Chinese-made products are currently facing US tariff rates of at least 30%, a temporary decline from 145% just a few weeks ago.
Chamberlain has already dumped its Chinese suppliers after increasing the cost of bulk filament orders from $14.99 per roll to $17.99. Chamberlain said it only leaned towards American and Canadian filament vendors. However, he had to do it without a specific color option after making the switch.
“The whole point when we entered toy production was to make durable, affordable toys for families and children,” he noted the Dragon, Possum and Dinosaur lineup. “Unless it’s the issue of having to shut down the business completely, I’m not going to raise prices.”
The company is one of many across the country that has committed to not raising prices for its customers despite Trump’s import tax.
Bill Sandweg, co-owner of Copper Star Coffee in Phoenix, explained that his cafe has already seen the impact from tariffs.
Several big companies, like Home Depot, have now ruled out price increases and say they have the flexibility to adapt. Others, including Nike and Walmart, are planning to raise prices, but this week is a target called “very last resort.” Many other companies are also trying to hold it firmly as consumers grow more pessimistically and hunt harder for bargains. Online clothing and household goods seller Quince recently told customers that despite procuring a large number of items from China, they are committed to maintaining stable prices “as much as possible” and “as possible.”
A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
Main Street Shops and other small operators say they feel they are surrounded by a trade war. Meanwhile, some are trying to take advantage of “antifunction prevention” promotions and other sales gambits. Many view the ever-changing US obligations as existential threats that require the help of their customers. This spring, a Main Street Alliance survey of small business owners found that 81.5% said they needed to raise prices to handle tariffs, while 31.5% said they would fire workers.
“If you go back and forth from 10% to 140% to 30% and have a tariff regime around the blanket, it’s impossible to plan,” said Richard Trent, executive director of the advocacy group, representing more than 30,000 small businesses. “Small business owners operate with such a thin margin. All we can do is give them a little stability.”
Some entrepreneurs view their obligations to their clients in almost the same way.
“I’m not going to raise prices,” said Cara Minervini, who ran through everything in a ceramic studio on Paulies Island, South Carolina. “I can’t do that to my community.”
Like Chamberlain, Minervini does his best to adapt. She is working to reevaluate the assortment of products and subscribe to a smaller version of a particular piece or find alternatives in different forms.
She also stocked the materials earlier this year and expected prices to rise from tariffs. Her major supplier, which is based in the US but imported from China — announced an overall price hike of 7.25% since June, she said. Another flagged supplier will also increase, but not shown when or how much money.
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But Minervini is unshakable. “I’ll sell everything, close my business and create a new life for myself before I raise the prices,” she said.
For Dan Jones and his wife, Ashley, the tariffs meant less helping out Jeans Day Apparel, a clothing company co-owned in McCauseville, Indiana. This business – is currently a side gig alongside Jones’ full-time job, selling custom tees, pants and accessories for schools, sports teams and events.
Jones said the cost of supplies such as ink, printed paper and clothing has increased on average by 3% since March. But rather than raising prices, he and Ashley let go of a few high school students who help part-time to make apparel, usually for $12 to $15 an hour.
“We need to be able to cut costs somewhere and work is the easiest place to work,” he said. This trim means more work for Dan and Ashley, and it means eating family time and pushing back plans to move the company from the garage to the storefront.
“I don’t know what the future will look like,” he said. “It’s unknown that it’s very scary.”
Amy Grows, a retired U.S. Forest Service forest engineer and owner of Camas Creek Soap Company in Sagle, Idaho, doesn’t want to impose a full price increase.
“I don’t think there’s any need to do that to people,” she said. “It’s just soap.”
To keep her bar as much as $6 as possible, she grew and preempted tariffs and joined the wave of businesses and consumers who stocked their products earlier this year. However, her suppliers have already warned of potential price increases, so she plans to reduce the soap variety by around 25%, focusing on top selling items. She also changes her palm and olive oil for the cheapest alternative possible.
“I’m trying to make a little money for myself and give people a good product they can afford,” Grows said.
Last month, four US suppliers of Amelia Morgan all announced a 20% price increase on plaques, trophies, and other components her awards business relies on. Morgan said the Abyston, Illinois-based Certification Awards and others won’t be able to eat the additional costs of those ingredients for a long time.
She has been refraining from raising her price for weeks, but hopes she will eventually need to give it within the next month.
“There are people who rely on us to be able to pay mortgages, buy groceries, and pay for cars,” Morgan said of the six workers she and her husband employ. “We need to make sure we make a profit.”
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