Reference Message Network reported on May 2 that the Associated Press broadcast an article titled "Nowhere to Go": Small American businesses increasingly desperate as they rely on imported Chinese goods, compiled as follows:
Large orders are canceled. Loaded containers are stranded overseas. No idea what will happen next.
After the Trump administration imposed high tariffs on Chinese goods, small business owners in the U.S. who depend on importing Chinese products watch their inventory decrease and costs skyrocket, becoming increasingly desperate. Some business owners say they may only have a few months before complete collapse.
WS Games, a family-owned company located in Manchester-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts, holds licenses for several Hasbro board games and sells luxury versions of these games.
The company's boss, Jonathan Silva, said that its products are sold in 14,000 stores across North America.
Products of WS Games are all made in China. The tariffs have brought the company's 25 years of healthy growth to a sudden halt. In the past three weeks, the company has had three containers of products stranded in China, valued at about $500,000. It also lost orders worth $16 million from three major U.S. retailers. Silva can do almost nothing about it.
Silva, who employs 22 people, said: "As a small business, we don't have the means or ability to transfer production arbitrarily." He stated that the tariffs "have disrupted our operations and put us on the brink of bankruptcy," estimating that if there is no change, the company can only last four more months.
He said: "We really hope that people with more sense take charge."
In Lexington, Kentucky, Jeremy Rice co-owns "Haus" home decor store, which operates in artificial floral business. About 90% of the flowers in his store are made in China.
Rice has dozens of suppliers; the largest ones can bear part of the tariff costs, with the remaining costs passed on to buyers.
For this store, which provides medium-priced artificial flowers, China is the only place where high-quality silk flowers can be manufactured. Rice said it would take years to relocate production elsewhere.
The current inventory in this store is only enough for two or three months. Rice said: "I don't know what to do next."
Rice is concerned that the trade war will cause many small family-owned stores to close. He said: "There is no way out, there is nothing we can do."
A tea house in University City, Michigan, is also in trouble. Lisa McDonald, owner of TeaHaus Tea House in Ann Arbor, said: "This really makes me very uneasy."
McDonald has been running this tea house for nearly 18 years, importing tea from China, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, and other places. She said her customer base "spans the United States and around the world."
A 50-gram bag of premium tea in this store is priced at about $33. But McDonald pointed out that customers have limits to their purchasing power. She said: "I cannot raise the price to $75, regardless of how good this tea is."
McDonald said: "We cannot just overturn this industry and make American tea 'great again.' This simply won't work."
Jim Umhauft's 4Knines company is located in Oklahoma City, mainly producing car seat covers and cargo liners for transporting pets. For this, he needs fabric and accessories from China.
Since Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods in 2018, Umhauft has explored manufacturing in other countries but encountered various problems. Meanwhile, the company bears additional costs, restricting development and compressing profit margins.
Now, new tariffs will make it almost impossible for the company to continue operating. Umhauft said: "We only have limited inventory left, and if things don't improve soon, we will run out of stock quickly."
Umhauft feels frustrated as he tried to contact the White House and other policymakers to seek support for small businesses but received no response.
He said: "Policy makers should now consider the full impact of trade policies—not just on stock prices or global competitiveness, but also on small business operators."
(Compiled/translated by Cao Weiguo)
On April 29, containerships were photographed at the Port of Los Angeles, USA. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua News Agency)
Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7499683011227582988/
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