This will probably get lost in the s**t storm today, but I thought I'd share the experiences of a friend. He is a small business owner who specializes in engineering and manufacturing building products out of metal. Two recent items he relayed to me.
1. He had 100 lbs of alloy at a customs warehouse outside of Chicago and he spent most of the morning meeting the paperwork requirements for the 6 oz of aluminum in the metal. Not all of the aluminum had tariffs. Some was made in France, and some was made in India, but he had to produce the specs and pay a tariff. If that sounds tedious, you are right, and the guy at customs he talked to expressed that it's going to be a nightmare as tariffs ramp up. The warehouse outside of ORD usually processes imports and has them out the door within 24 hours. He told my friend he'd have stuff sitting there for a week soon enough, and sitting in the parking lot for lack of space.
2. My friend had a new bid this week and ran the numbers for the prospective customer. He gave him the price and told him the tariffs would add another $6200 to the price. The customer said pass.
You cannot run businesses with all of this uncertainty and drag on productivity. We won't know exactly what Trump will say today, but given that he's pushed the rollout until after the markets close today, we can expect they will be sweeping, and add great expense to businesses and US consumers.
1. He had 100 lbs of alloy at a customs warehouse outside of Chicago and he spent most of the morning meeting the paperwork requirements for the 6 oz of aluminum in the metal. Not all of the aluminum had tariffs. Some was made in France, and some was made in India, but he had to produce the specs and pay a tariff. If that sounds tedious, you are right, and the guy at customs he talked to expressed that it's going to be a nightmare as tariffs ramp up. The warehouse outside of ORD usually processes imports and has them out the door within 24 hours. He told my friend he'd have stuff sitting there for a week soon enough, and sitting in the parking lot for lack of space.
2. My friend had a new bid this week and ran the numbers for the prospective customer. He gave him the price and told him the tariffs would add another $6200 to the price. The customer said pass.
You cannot run businesses with all of this uncertainty and drag on productivity. We won't know exactly what Trump will say today, but given that he's pushed the rollout until after the markets close today, we can expect they will be sweeping, and add great expense to businesses and US consumers.
