‘Everything is about to get really expensive’: Small-business owners say Trump tariffs could force them to raise prices

“Everything is about to get really f---ing expensive,” says Melanie Abrantes, an Oakland, California-based business owner who sells home décor.

Abrantes is one of many CEOs of small and medium-sized consumer product businesses in the U.S. who say President Donald Trump’s tariffs could force them to raise prices before the end of the year.

Last week, Trump updated tariff rates for dozens of countries, ranging from 10% to 41% duties that go into effect starting Aug. 7. Goods that are considered to have been transshipped, or shipped through an intermediate country to disguise where they were originally made to avoid applicable duties, will be hit with an additional 40% rate.

U.S. businesses that stocked up on inventory earlier this year are now starting to run out, they say. When they reorder from their overseas manufacturers, they’ll need to pay steep import costs.

“While inventory front-running has mitigated the need to raise goods prices, it will become increasingly difficult for businesses to absorb higher import duties as pre-tariff stockpiles dwindle,” Wells Fargo economists wrote in a July research report. “We expect core goods prices to pick up further in the second half of the year as a result.”