Busy Baby founder speaks out against tariffs in Washington
The award that she accepted with her 8-year-old son was from the U.S. Small Business Administration, which chose the top small businesses in each state for 2025. Shortly after receiving the award, Benike made her way to a press conference about how tariffs are impacting small businesses across the country.
Due to the size and nature of her business, having her products manufactured in China was the only economically feasible choice. When the U.S. imposed 145% tariffs on goods made in China, it stranded three months' worth of Busy Baby inventory in China as Benike could not afford the $230,000 of additional tariff fees. Since then, that inventory has dropped even more.
"I have maybe two months' worth left in my warehouse in Minnesota, and when that's gone, I have no more revenue. I cannot pay my employees. I cannot pay my bills. I cannot pay the loans which I have leveraged my house against so we could lose our house," she said during the press conference. "So, I am asking ... begging for support from both parties, to support our small businesses and get rid of these tariffs on U.S.-owned small businesses. It doesn't just affect me when I go out of business. It affects all those contractors that I pay to help me with my business ... There are thousands of us. So this is hurting more than just people importing from China."
Benike, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Kosovo, created the prototype for her Busy Baby silicone placemat in her kitchen in Oronoco. She was helped by economic development groups in the region, including the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation in Owatonna. She also appeared on the TV show "Shark Tank," which features start-up pitches.
"The small business owners that are standing here with us today, they do not have a direct dial number for the White House. They do not have the president's cell phone. They are not like a major, major CEO of a Fortune 500 company that can call and get a meeting with the White House and then get their products exempted," said Klobuchar. "The unfairness and the destruction of the competitive marketplace for small businesses will have longer-term effects than anyone can even imagine."
Klobuchar's bipartisan bill with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, to undo the tariffs on Canadian goods passed the Senate last month. It was also supported by Republican Sen. Rand Paul. Klobuchar and Smith also recently voted for a bipartisan bill to overturn Trump's across-the-board global tariffs. Klobuchar co-sponsored the Trade Review Act of 2025, bipartisan legislation by Sens. Maria Cantwell and Chuck Grassley to restore congressional oversight of tariffs.
"For American entrepreneurs, this is not a political issue. This is about the survival of their businesses and the survival of their dreams. Beth Benike's story shows us so clearly that President Trump's chaotic approach to tariffs is putting small businesses like hers at risk. It's hurting people's capacity to make payroll, it's hurting our economy and it's hurting American consumers," Smith said.
Benike has been speaking out against tariffs since early April. She said it is not a political issue for her, but an issue of economic survival.
"Small businesses are not going to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., so let us be exempt and at least stay in business. If the mission is to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., we're not the ones who are going to do it," she said at a press conference at her Zumbrota warehouse on April 21.
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