Many small businesses are still threatened by the trade war facing the United States, even though President Donald Trump suspended most tariffs for 90 days.
The escalating tariffs on China have halted imports — and manufacturing — for many American companies, including mom-and-pop stores and family-owned businesses that cannot easily shift production or sourcing to other countries.
‘This is life or death,” says Rick Woldenberg, the CEO of Leaning Resources, a century-old toy manufacturing company that makes educational materials for thousands of American schools.
Woldenberg told Breitbart News that the Trump administration’s tariffs on China — which hit 145% as of Thursday morning — would cause his tax bill to rise from roughly $2 million to $100 million — overnight. To stay in business, Woldenberg estimated that he would have to raise his prices 40-45%. Otherwise, “[Trump] is killing me. I’m dead.”
Learning Resources, and other companies that source components from China, are being forced to halt production or block shipments from leaving port in China. The result could be factory closures cascading layoffs — not just in China, which is the target of Trump’s policy, but also in the U.S, meaning Wednesday’s stock-market joy could be short-lived.
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday: “More container-shipping companies are cancelling sailings from Asia to the U.S. and Europe.” And other entrepreneurs are echoing Woldenberg’s fears of a massive impact on U.S. industry — precisely the opposite of the effect intended by Trump’s policy, which aims to protect and grow U.S. manufacturing.
Woldenberg would like the administration to implement a 90-day pause on the China tariffs, just as it has done with other tariffs.
“At least let us get the Christmas orders in,” he said, noting that 90 days would allow American firms to put goods afloat in time for the most important retail season of the year. “Otherwise, it’s going to be nuclear winter.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
