Businesses Respond to Tariff Halt

Small business owners are breathing a sigh of relief after learning about a 90-day pause on President Trump's 145% tariff on Chinese goods. Steve Hall, co-founder of Tinker Coffee Co., shares his perspective.

"Yeah, I can show you in here kind of where it all starts," said Steve Hall, co-founder of Tinker Coffee Co.

Tinker Coffee Co. started as an idea between Hall and his brother-in-law and officially opened for business in November 2014, selling coffee to other businesses and gradually growing over time.

Hall mentioned that his business has faced many obstacles, but none like tariffs. He explained that they've had to adjust their supply chain due to the tariffs, including finding alternative sources for packaging cups, lids, and other materials.

"Our 5-pound bags are made in China, so we're trying to figure out how we kind of best navigate that challenge now with the pause on tariffs. Maybe we're able to hurry up and get an order into the country in 90 days. Maybe we can do that, maybe we can't," Hall said.

The 90-day pause is set to expire in July, and the tariff on Chinese goods is set to expire in August.

"50,000 bags at a time, that adds up. If the cost is increasing, almost double or more than double, that can really have a huge impact on us and force us to increase prices across the board," Hall said.

Hall emphasized the importance of patience and understanding during this uncertain time, stating that smaller businesses are dealing with the same challenges.

"Everybody's kind of dealing with this thing, and for smaller businesses, they don't have the scale to purchase gigantic quantities of things. We're just going to do our best to handle the tariffs and price increase as best we can, and hopefully, we can all get through it together," Hall said.

The Yale Budget Lab estimates that current tariffs will increase prices by 1.7% in the short run, costing the average household about $2,800 a year. Economists predict that consumers will start to see more impacts soon.