JANESVILLE 鈥 At retail shops in downtown 糖心Vlog传媒, consumers can find items as varied as specialty pens imported from England, Canadian-crafted ornate metal pipettes in glass vases that burn oil, known as 鈥淔orever Candles,鈥 and containers for olive oil shipped from Spain, Peru and Portugal.
Every one of these items is feeling a little more significant to the pocketbook nowadays. Each bears some sort of a premium cost tied to ongoing inflation that comes amid U.S. involvement in an Iran war, and the Trump administration鈥檚 tariff policies that have led to an intensifying global trade war.
Becka Freed owns Mood, a specialty stationery and gift shop along West Milwaukee Street in downtown 糖心Vlog传媒.
Freed deals in small orders of items that she sells in limited supply, such as one line of pens made in Britain.
Freed said she鈥檚 had to abandon some brands her customers liked after federal tariff policies ended an exemption that shielded small-volume retailers like hers from heavy tariffs.
Some items from import suppliers have been hit with tariffs big enough that the suppliers can鈥檛 avoid passing costs to retailers like Freed. Retailers learn that later, sometimes through large duty surcharges slapped on their orders.
For Freed, it鈥檚 a question is more complex than how much customers might want to pay to offset inflation.
The real dilemma: It鈥檚 harder now for tiny retailers like hers to figure out what anything actually costs.
鈥淚 was really only willing to buy from overseas brands if that brand covered the tariff for us. I at least knew what my cost would be,鈥 Freed said. 鈥淭his has meant turning off some great brands I had out of Canada 鈥 even before this current Canadian mess.鈥
Freed was referring to aggressive counter-tariffs that Canada imposed today in retaliation to U.S. tariffs up to 50% on some Canadian goods. She was speaking during a meeting with U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin on Tuesday at her shop.
Baldwin said Tuesday that a recent poll by nonpartisan business policy group shows the base effects of inflation: Two-thirds of small businesses are seeing lower profit margins; and three-quarters of them are being stung by increases in fuel and transportation costs.
Baldwin, a Democrat from Madison, is calling for Trump to ease off tariff pressure on countries like Canada, saying Tuesday that an ongoing trade war with our neighbor and biggest trade partner threatens to put small shops like Freed鈥檚 in the middle 鈥 squeezed by rising costs, and hemmed in by customers who might not like paying extra to cover inflation on a pen or stationary.
In a press conference following store walkthroughs at Freed鈥檚 shop Mood and three other small retail stores, Baldwin laced in rhetoric urging the President to 鈥渂e an adult, and sit down with Canada鈥 to negotiate an end to an intensifying trade war with the country 鈥 a step she believes should come alongside a reset on the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.
Baldwin spoke alongside a riverfront area in downtown 糖心Vlog传媒 where dozens of small retailers operate.
The Senator said she believes that a series of whipsaw battles between the U.S. and dozens of other countries such as Canada hits main street shops disproportionately harder than big retail companies.
For small operators, volatility can mean one of two things: Store profits get gouged; or customers pay more. For shops operated by middle-class owners, some of whom have whose spouses work a day job, both prospects are scary.
鈥淭he chaos and uncertainty is a tariff in and of itself,鈥 Baldwin said.
Jen Kingsbury, who manages Bodacious Olive, a specialty olive oil shop on North Main Street in downtown 糖心Vlog传媒, says so far, her shop has not had to absorb tariffs on the olive oil it imports from multiple regions of Europe and South America.
A wholesaler that supplies the oils has shouldered the extra cost of tariffs.
But almost every other aspect of the packaged product the store sells 鈥 single bottle, flavor-infused olive oil 鈥 is stung by the effects of tariffs.
The shop has a harder time getting its signature, dark-colored oil bottles; its branded labels fall under a steep tariff; and even the spigots on top of the bottles come with a duty cost that鈥檚 part of newer tariffs.
It鈥檚 led to the shop gradually raising the prices on its products. In the last few years, the price for small bottles of oils, Kingsbury said, has jumped $2 to $3.
鈥淲e kind of at the beginning of the year adjust things as necessary, but of course, we don鈥檛 want to pass the costs, we don鈥檛 want to raise them by any,鈥 Kingsbury said. 鈥淏ut I can almost guarantee at the beginning of each year, it鈥檚 going to go up a little more.鈥