Monday, December 9

Rush orders, cut costs, crossed fingers: How small businesses are preparing for Trump tariffs

Donald Trump, the incoming president, is not wasting any time in announcing that tariffs will be a top priority on the first day of office. Small businesses are already taking precautions against anticipated cost hikes or considering whether to absorb the financial impact or pass it on to customers as his inauguration approaches in less than two months.

Trump declared on Truth Social on Monday that he would impose a 25% tariff on all products from Canada and Mexico in addition to a 10% tariff on Chinese goods.

He didn’t restate his demands for universal import taxes while on the campaign trail, and some analysts believe his suggested trade restrictions will be challenged in court. Nevertheless, small firms that had anxiously watched the plans during the campaign argue that time is running out to protect themselves as much as possible.

I’m anxious and there’s a sense of urgency.

Tabor Place in the San Francisco Bay region is owned by Beatrice Barba.

Beatrice Barba is the owner of Tabor Place, a company that produces kid-friendly lunchboxes and nontoxic cups in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2025, she had planned to create new designs for her iconic sippy cups, but she is now abandoning those plans and hoarding as much of her basic inventory as she can.

When she started the company about six years ago, she approached 80 domestic manufacturers, but none of them were able to produce her borosilicate glass designs, thus her whole product line is created in China.

Barba was somewhat concerned about Trump’s proposed tariffs, but she didn’t think he would win and she didn’t think he would be committed to enforcing them if he did. She hopes that in the next months, her Chinese suppliers will be able to produce one $200,000 order for the entire year and ship it through American ports before Trump enters office.

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“That gives me some time to get through the storm,” she remarked. I’m anxious and there’s a sense of urgency.

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