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Local business leaders are concerned about how tariffs will impact their bottom line.
U.S. Representative Kathy Castor hosted them in a roundtable Monday.
Around 10 business owners and entrepreneurs in food, manufacturing, and other industries met with Congress member Kathy Castor during a roundtable.
The event was hosted at the Blind Tiger Coffee Roasters, owned by Roberto Torres.
Torress said the drinks he serves are imported, and tariffs will cause raised prices for customers.
“So if we go to them, and explain to them ‘hey we’re going to raise prices and here’s the reason why,’ two things can happen: they can keep to support our business in spite of, or they can choose to not support our business and find what they need somewhere else. Either way it’s a lose-lose situation,” Torres said.
They expressed worry about what tariffs will mean for their businesses.
Abigail StClair is the owner and founder of Tebella Tea Company in Tampa Bay and Sarasota.
China is the world’s largest tea producer, and she said she’s looking at costs going up over 150 percent- costs that may be passed on to her customers.
“I’m hopeful that they’ll understand that if they want to keep drinking those high-end Pu’ers, you know, they’ll gonna have to pay a little bit more because I’m importing them at a much, much greater cost,” StClair told WMNF.
President Donald Trump imposed high tariffs on a variety of countries, with a 145% tariff being placed on Chinese imports. Trump has said the move is to protect jobs in the US.
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