() As tariffs continue to impact major shopping giants like Target and Walmart, small businesses across the U.S. are feeling the effects as well. Busy Baby CEO Beth Benike joined ” Now” to talk about how it’s becoming harder to run her operations.
“The problem is, we are too small,” said Benike. “Manufacturing in the U.S. is very expensive, and in order for the business model to work for the U.S. manufacturers, they need to manufacture things in large volumes. As a startup and very small company, we don’t make enough units to make it worth their time to work with us.”
Benike, an Army veteran, started Busy Baby to give parents products that are within reach and off the ground for their children. All those products were being made in China because no one in the U.S. would make them for her. But things changed for Benike quickly once President Trump took office and implemented tariffs on dozens of countries earlier this month.
“So we never expected 145 tariffs, and it’s been out there for a long time,” she said. “We started a GoFundMe to try and raise money, and unfortunately, we didn’t get anywhere near the goal. The goal was $230,000, I would have had to pay. I’ve never paid a tariff prior to this in the five years of importing products.”
Benike added that her business did raise enough money to support to bring in the products that were being kept in China, but there is still the challenge of getting the products on a ship and getting them to the United States. And with the demand high, her costs have doubled.
“So I need to get this product here, because if I don’t have it, I can’t sell it,” acknowledged Benike. “I can’t pay my bills or my employees.”
With the current tariffs in place, Benike says she is parallel planning, building out an international distribution strategy and selling products in bundles.
