At the end of April, New York-based startup Outlines joined the chorus of U.S. businesses raising prices to offset costs of tariffs on incoming Chinese goods.
But on May 14, when President Donald Trump temporarily adjusted the tariff rate to 30% — down from a peak of 145% — Outlines CEO Luke Barkley Young decided to do something relatively unusual, compared to many other American businesses. He lowered his prices back down.
“I remember the Covid days when companies pulled prices up, then just kept them up,” says Barkley Young, 37, whose company sells recyclable plastic shower liners. “I didn’t want to be that business.”
Since Trump’s initial tariffs announcement on April 2, most businesses in the New York and northern New Jersey region have raised their prices, according to a New York Fed survey released on June 4. Even before the tariffs, Barkley Young’s products were a lot more expensive than most plastic shower liners that end up in the trash: $60 for an initial purchase and $28 for “refills,” which covered the cost of the company recycling each liner and sending out a replacement.
Trump’s tariffs made them even pricier. After comparing notes with other startup founders over dinner one night, Barkley Young started calculating, and realized he needed to increase prices on liner refills by $4 each, he says. If he ordered three months’ worth of inventory without raising prices, Outlines would go bankrupt, he adds.
