With the total tariff rate at 37.5 percent, Cut Buddy Owner Josh Esnard said it's better than the 153 percent he was paying a few months ago, but added that the amount is still a huge financial hit.
"It's a $70,000 bill," said Esnard. "That's a whole person's salary per year."
He has four more containers on the water and is bracing for the tariffs.
"Before, we were facing the death of the company, but now I'm just facing a wound," said Esnard. "It's still a significant amount because I don't want to pass 30% on to the customer, obviously. We're trying our hardest not to pass that cost on."
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ABC11 met with Esnard in May when a triple-digit tariff was imposed. He estimated that he was going $3 into the red with each item sold.
Esnard shared the tariff amount at that time, which was unsustainable, and wondered if he would have to close his doors, even though he had contracts with major retailers like Walmart, Amazon, and CVS.
He said he has since let go of some consultants and completely cut out all marketing efforts in order to continue to meet contractual obligations with retailers.
"If I don't stock their shelves above a certain amount, then they will not continue my contract next year," he said. "I can't stockpile because I don't obviously have just $1,000,000 to just put out there for inventory. Plus, I only have 5,000 square feet of space, so there's nowhere to even fit this stuff."
NC State Economist Carly Byrd says the back-and-forth particularly hurts the small business community. They are struggling to move production to a domestic supplier.
"They're probably going to be more limited in their suppliers, the price they're willing to pay, where they're shipping things from. They do not have the option to import from China or not," said Byrd.