Inside a historic 2,000 square feet mill in Worcester a Thursday recently, four workers in hand bottle with rice vinegar.
The mill houses works of American vinegar. For six years, the owner Rodrigo Vargas and his team have designed 17 types of specialized vinegar, using American manufacturing alcohol aged in domestic oak barrels.
“Everything in a bottle comes from the United States, and we are made by us here in Worcester,” said Vargas. “The packaging, however, comes from China.”
Small companies in the Massachusetts say that they feel in a hurry by the out -of -success prices of President Trump on the countries of the world. Although prices have an impact on businesses of all sizes, their smaller imprint means that they are more deeply affected by the fluctuations in commercial policy.
The increased prices on Chinese products create precarious financial prospects for American vinegar work.
The distinctive bottles of the store, with short cous and rounded shoulders, are imported every few months – 20,000 per shipment – of a Chinese supplier.
Vargas said he had “very slowly, but surely” built a faithful clientele, partly refined from “the brand's recognition [that] comes from the shape of the bottle itself.
Since 2019, during the First Trump Administration, Vargas has been paying a 25% glass tax that has increased to about one dollar for each bottle and ceiling.
In March, a bottle shipment already at sea was struck by a new price of 10% – in addition to a rate of 10% imposed a month earlier, rising at a tariff 20% higher than the last time it ordered in November. The increase followed Trump's decision to double the prices on Chinese imports as a penalty for not having stopped the flow of fentanyl and illegal immigration to the United States.
Vargas paid nearly $ 2,000 for shipping when he arrived in Boston Harbor, almost double the amount he had paid. But that could have been worse. If the bottles had arrived several weeks later, it could have been on the hook for $ 6,800 due to another price increase. Shared vargas information From the director of packaging, Tricorbraun, which shows the total price on glass containers from China, is 170%.
“These price fees on this small glass shipment is equivalent to almost two and a half months of rent from our small manufacturing plant,” said Vargas.
Vargas said he tried to supply the bottles nationally, but had found no viable options.
” Most [U.S.] Bottle manufacturers will force you to consume half a million vinegar bottles, “he said.” We never have in the life of our business which sold half a million vinegar bottles. »»
Things started looking for when he found a new Taiwanese supplier that could manage smaller orders and develop a personalized mold for its bottle design.
But the pivot is not without risk: its first expected expedition of 140,000 Taiwanese manufacturing bottles could still face a rate of 32% if it arrives after 90 days break expires in July.
“This game of steps in moving from the production from one place to another … It is not something that small businesses can support,” said Vargas. “We don't have the capital, we don't have the lever effect.”
'A lot on the line'
Claire Cheney, owner of Curio Spice Co. in Cambridge, is worried if she can continue to offer products based on imported ingredients – such as vanilla extract.
Curio imports vanilla pods from Madagascar. If a price of 47% on Madagascar products comes into force in July as planned, an order of $ 5,000 in a bag of 55 pounds of vanilla pods could jump more than $ 2,000 during the night.
This could increase the price of a vanilla extract bottle from Curio from $ 16 to $ 30, a price that no customer could be willing to pay, said Cheney.
The Curio model depends on close relations with small producers of countries such as Cambodia, India, Japan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, which could all face prices between 24% and 49% from July.
It is at this moment that Trump's break in world prices, which he initially announced in April, should expire. He interrupted the prices for most countries, except China, after a drop in sharp drop in the stock market.
Before Trump suspended the prices for three months, Cheney said she was sending SMS to her suppliers on WhatsApp to inform them of the situation and “hang on well”.
“There are a lot on the line,” she said. “As if we are not a company that can simply depend on a financial cushion to stay tight while the policy takes place.”
Anna Nagurney, professor at Umass Amherst who studies supply chain networks, says that global prices will have an impact on consumer behavior at all levels. Even with the current break, the new universal price at 10% of Trump – with the exception of China, which has a new 145% sample – remains in force.
“The prices will increase the prices of imported goods. They will affect the variety, they will even affect the volume,” she said. “Our companies will be hammered and consumers will suffer.”
Some local owners of small businesses already feel this training effect.
“People do not do as much shopping,” said April Gabriel, owner of the Boston General Store in Brookline, who sells kitchen utensils, candles and other hand -made products. She said sales fell by around 10% compared to last year.
“I think that sales in general are declining because people are not sure of what will happen,” she said.
Currently, small businesses like Curio Spice and American Vinegar Works are trying to maintain stable prices.
But if prices increase or remain unpredictable, owners may need to adjust their prices or rotate their source of supply when jostling to adapt.
