Many Americans and American businesses have been tense about tariffs. Now, it seems that they are having an effect, with businesses coming out to warn their customers.
Keep reading to learn more.
Earlier this year, after taking office, President Donald Trump announced a series of new tariffs for various countries across the globe, including remote islands. The tariffs were also announced for Heard Island and McDonald Island, some of the most remote places in the world, where only penguins and seals live.
As the tariffs come into effect, experts and businesses are both issuing warnings to their customers to expect to pay more for items they enjoyed for less in the past.
Walmart was one of the many businesses that warned customers about the expected price hikes because of the new tariffs. CEO of the retail giant, Douglas McMillon said, “We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible. But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.”
Another company that posted publicly about the effect the tariffs have had on them is Wyze Cam. The tech company based in Washington said it had to pay ‘$255,000 in tariffs and $579.23 in ‘other fees’ to import $167,000 of Wyze Cams’. They posted a receipt to prove their claims.
Another tech company, GlytchTech shared a picture of its DHL invoice as well. The company quoted over $2,800 in tariffs on less equipment worth less than $2,000.
Another company that spoke out was Adafruit Industries. In a blog post, they shared a DHL receipt warning customers to expect a price increase.
“We’re no stranger to tariff bills, although they have definitely ramped up over the last two months. However, this is our first ‘big bill’, where a large portion was subjected to a 125%+20%+25% import markup,” Adafruit Industries wrote in their post.
“Unlike other taxes like sales tax where we collect on behalf of the state and then submit it back at the end of the month, or income taxes, where we only pay if we are profitable, tariff taxes are paid before we sell any of the products and are due within a week of receipt which has a big impact on cash flow.”
It continued, saying, “In this particular case, we’re buying from a vendor, not a factory, so we can’t second-source the items (and these particular products we couldn’t manufacture ourselves even if we wanted to, since the vendor has well-deserved IP protections). And the products were booked & manufactured many months ago, before the tariffs were in place.
“Since they are electronics products/components, there’s a chance we may be able to request reclassification on some items to avoid the 125% ‘reciprocal’ tariff, but there’s no assurance that it will succeed, and even if it does, it is many, many months until we could see a refund.”
