Trump Aimed at China and Hit US Small Businesses Instead
UPS reports that small companies can’t afford to stock up and are at the back of the line for supply alternatives.
Chinese manufacturers aren’t slowing production. They're selling those wares to countries other than the US.
Photographer: Cheng Xin/Getty Images
President Donald Trump took aim at China with his cannon shot of 145% tariffs and ended up with a direct hit on US small businesses. That’s the takeaway from United Parcel Service Inc.’s earnings conference call, which gave a glimpse of the damage already taking hold across the US economy.
Many small businesses rely on China as their sole source for imported goods and are now scrambling along with larger ones for alternatives. Phone calls from large companies seeking to move production outside of China, to places such as Vietnam or Thailand, are taken first, leaving the small importers hanging, UPS Chief Executive Officer Carol Tomé said.