Latest news with #BethBenike
New York Post
29-05-2025
- Business
- New York Post
US business owners cheer court ruling on Trump's tariffs— but still hedge their bets as chaotic battle plays out in courts
US business owners cheered a bombshell court ruling that voids most of President Trump's tariffs — but most said they'll still hedge their bets as the legal drama unfolds. The US Court of International Trade in Manhattan issued a sharp rebuke late Wednesday, ruling that the power to issue duties on foreign goods lies with Congress, not the president. A federal appeals court put the ruling on hold on Thursday after the Justice Department appealed it. Northbrook, Ill.-based Baby Paper, which makes sensory plush toys, had been poised to raise its wholesale prices within several weeks by $1 to $5 on items that range in price between $7 and $30, but owner Sari Wiaz said she will now hold off. Advertisement 5 Baby Paper is going to hold off on raising prices on its plush toys to see whether the courts permanently block new tariffs. Sari Wiaz 'In March, I increased my prices by 5%, but now that we have this news, I'm not going to go ahead with my next increase,' Wiaz told The Post. 'I'm going to wait for everything to settle.' Baby Paper makes its crinkly toys in China, which was slapped with a 30% tariff that will stay in place until Aug. 10 when a temporary pause on a much higher levy will expire. Advertisement 'I'm skeptical but It does feel like the sun is shining again,' Wiaz said. 'We all have our fingers crossed.' Jay Foreman, chief executive Basic Fun – maker of Tonka Trucks, Care Bears and Lite Brite – says the ruling by the trade court shows 'it's very clear that tariffs on things like toys, tennis shoes and T-shirts is not a national security issue. 'I applaud the court,' Foreman added. 'This will save my business and so many others.' 5 Jay Foreman is CEO of Basic Fun, which makes Tonka Trucks and Care Bears. AP Advertisement 5 Dan Digre is president of MISCO Speakers. Courtesy of Dan Digre The court's ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed in April by a coalition of small businesses. But White House officials expressed confidence the decision will be overturned on appeal – and experts said there are other legal options to keep the tariffs in place. Daniel Digre — whose 75-year-old, Minneapolis company MISCO now relies on Chinese parts for speakers it builds in the US — likened the court ruling to a 'speed bump.' 'It means we just keep doing what we've been doing — looking for other countries to work with and continuing to diversify our supply chain as much as possible,' Digre told The Post. 'That's how I see it.' Advertisement Beth Benike, whose company Busy Baby makes rubber placemats and utensils, said the ruling made her feel 'validated' and 'optimistic for a moment.' But she also frets that it may be too little, too late after she was unable to bring in inventory from China when the tariffs spiked in April. 5 Beth Benike says her company Busy Baby is in 'imminent danger' of shutting down. Courtesy of Beth Benike Benike recently scored contracts with Walmart and Target and took out a loan to amass inventory — but she's now looking to cancel the deals in order to conserve cash. 'We are in imminent danger of going out of business,' Benike told The Post. On the positive side, the court ruling lights a fire under the Trump administration to expedite trade truces, said Juan Pellarano-Rendon, chief marketing officer at Swap, a platform that provides tech services to 500 online retailers. 'The Trump administration is certainly going to want to get ahead of the courts and broker the trade agreements as soon as possible to show that they have successfully used tariffs as a tool,' Pellerano-Rendon told The Post. 5 The Trump administration is confident that it will win any legal challenges to its tariff policies. AFP via Getty Images Advertisement In the meantime, some of Swap's clients are considering barring orders to the US as tariffs drive up their costs, he said. If the Trump administration moves quickly to clinch trade deals before important shopping seasons, like back-to-school and holiday sales, the worst of the impact could be avoided, he added.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tariffs make running operations ‘less feasible': Small business owner
(NewsNation) — 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 'NewsNation 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. Home Depot says it doesn't expect to boost prices because of tariffs '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. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
13-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Ease in tariffs leaves Minnesota small business owner hopeful and uncertain
A Minnesota small business owner is getting a brief reprieve thanks to a 90-day tariff pause between the United States and China, but the long-term outlook remains uncertain. Beth Benike, a mother and veteran who started her business to stop babies from dropping their toys, says the temporary reduction in tariffs has given her a critical lifeline. "Yeah. I mean, the reprieve right now, taking the tariffs from 145 down to 30 [percent] is enough where we can get our products that are stranded in China to America," Benike said. "So the first thing we're going to do is ship everything we have that's ready to go, and get it here. That's going to give us about three more months of runway to figure out what to do next." The 90-day suspension comes as part of ongoing trade discussions between the U.S. and China, which both countries said have the potential to address broader economic concerns. According to a joint statement released early Monday, both sides agreed that continued "communication, cooperation and mutual respect" will guide the talks. Benike says the uncertainty remains a major challenge. "Yeah, who knows what's going to happen after 90 days? I don't trust that the 90 days is actually 90 days. So many things change so rapidly that even though they're saying this is a 90-day thing right now, I wouldn't be surprised if it changes before that. And I don't know which way it could change, which makes it impossible to plan and make any business decisions," she said. University of Minnesota law and business professor Paul Vaaler says this temporary pause may help in the short term, but it's not a long-term solution. "In the next 90 days, what we're going to see is a decrease in the cost of imported goods substantially," Vaaler said. "I think more importantly, we're going to have [the] availability of those goods. At 145% tariff, which is where we were last week, it's not that the costs are so high, it's just trade stops. So Chinese trade now is going to continue, but what we're going to see is we're going to see essentially a 30% surcharge on goods that are coming from China, and that has a differential effect on really large businesses, medium-sized businesses, most importantly, those half million small businesses that are the backbone of the Minnesota economy." As the 90-day window ticks down, small business owners like Benike are left hoping this temporary relief can buy them enough time to find a long-term solution.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Small business owners on damage from Trump's tariffs
Beth Benike is a mom, a veteran, and a small business owner – and she's sounding the alarm. "I've been telling all of my friends and family that anything you want for Christmas, to get it right now, especially if you're buying for children. If you are buying any baby products at all, get them while they're here, because they're gonna be gone." After a decade serving in the Army, stationed in Bosnia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond, Benike started Busy Baby, a Minnesota company that designs and sells placemats and utensils for babies and toddlers. All her products are made in China. And now, those products are subject to President Trump's 145% tax on Chinese imports. "We have three months' worth of products sitting at the factory," Benike said. "And now, in order to get it here, we need $230,000 on top of what we've already paid for the product, just to get it in the country." "Can you afford that?" I asked. "Oh God, no," Benike replied. "So, what do you do?" "First, I sat on my kitchen floor and cried," Benike said. "And when I was on the floor in the kitchen, my son came in to show me something or tell me something, and he saw me sitting there, crying. My eight-year-old son. … And he put his arms around me and just hugged me. And, like, I realized I'm not gonna let him see this. This is not what we're gonna be." The tariffs hit just after Benike struck a deal to sell Busy Baby products at Target and Walmart. To produce enough inventory, she took out a loan from the Small Business Administration. "That loan is partially SBA-financed, and then partially leveraged against my house," Benike said. "So, if I can't stay in business and pay those loans, I lose the house." Inside Benike's warehouse, this is what's left: Once this inventory is sold, Benike said, "then we're out of product. Then we're sold out. We've got nothing more coming in." One of the retailers Benike supplies is Little Roo's, in Chaska, Minnesota. Owner Marissa Held-Nordling says she has seen shopper behavior change since tariffs were introduced. For the first time ever, she is allowing customers to stockpile baby registry gifts, like Benike's Busy Baby mats. That way, family and friends can still get what they need, often for baby showers months away. "You can't just do a registry anymore, because the products aren't guaranteed that it's still going to be on the shelf," said Held-Nordling. "So, at this point I'm allowing people to come in and fill a bin, and they can get their exact colors … and then I close the bin and I take this product off my website." While the U.S. and China begin trade talks, economists still expect most goods to get more expensive – or even go out of stock, from clothing to electronics to toys. Yale's Budget Lab says tariffs could add nearly $5,000 a year to families' household expenses. Raising a kid in the U.S. was already expensive. Tariffs could add $1,000 to the billTrump says there are no tariff exceptions in his trade war, despite electronics exemptions Kyla Scanlon, an economic analyst and author of "In This Economy? How Money & Markets Really Work," said, "It's probably a smart time to take advantage of this weird, uncertain moment to make sure that you have what you need, just in case prices do get more expensive. If you don't need something right away, a lot of financial advisors would recommend that you do start padding your emergency fund, and putting some money to the side." I asked, "Are these tariffs necessary to rebalance the global economy?" "I don't think this was necessary," Scanlon laughed. "Targeted tariffs are okay. But when you do broad, blanket tariffs on everything, and when the rate is confusing, when small businesses don't know how to invest, they don't know what they should be spending money on – it's just not a good economic environment." The legality of the Trump administration sidestepping Congress to implement tariffs is being challenged in the courts. President Trump says he imposed these tariffs in part to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. Small business owner challenges Trump tariffs in court When asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if there were discussions about giving relief to small businesses, Trump replied, "They're not going to need it. They're gonna make so much money, if you build your product here." But Benike says that's impossible – that manufacturing her products in the U.S. is too expensive: "The cost of land is higher here. The cost of insurance, the building, electricity, employees. And these factories that are producing now in the U.S., the raw materials they're bringing in are being tariffed as well." It's an untenable situation, even for someone as successful as Benike. Just last week, she was recognized for her company's success – while she worried about its survival. "I was in D.C. to receive my Small Business Person of the Year Award at the fanciest hotel in D.C., with my son in his adorable little suit and bow tie," she said. "And I just sat there feeling defeated. Where I would've loved to have celebrated that, now I have to prove it." Still, she's not giving up. She's drawing inspiration from a phrase she picked up in the military: Improvise, adapt and overcome. "So, Plan B is figuring out how to become a global brand," she said. "And not sell in the United States?" I asked. "For now," Benike said, adding, "It'll come back some day." "You have faith?" "I do. I have faith. It'll come back some day. This can't possibly last forever." For more info: Busy Baby, Zumbrota, Roo's, Chaska, Analyst Kyla Scanlon on Instagram"In This Economy? How Money & Markets Really Work" by Kyla Scanlon (Crown Currency), in Hardcover, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Story produced by John Goodwin and Emily Pandise. Editor: Karen Brenner. See also: Trump's tariffs set America's economy, and the world, on edge ("Sunday Morning")Trump's chaotic tariffs week ("Sunday Morning")Who would pay for Trump's promised tariffs? You will! ("Sunday Morning") Newly discovered vintage photos reveal San Francisco mystery Nature: Nesting birds in Florida Jim Gaffigan on how best to celebrate Dads this Mother's Day
CBS News
11-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
Small business owners on damage from Trump's tariffs
Beth Benike is a mom, a veteran, and a small business owner – and she's sounding the alarm. "I've been telling all of my friends and family that anything you want for Christmas, to get it right now, especially if you're buying for children. If you are buying any baby products at all, get them while they're here, because they're gonna be gone." After a decade serving in the Army, stationed in Bosnia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond, Benike started Busy Baby, a Minnesota company that designs and sells placemats and utensils for babies and toddlers. All her products are made in China. And now, those products are subject to President Trump's 145% tax on Chinese imports. Busy Baby owner Beth Benike (right), with correspondent Jo Ling Kent. CBS News "We have three months' worth of products sitting at the factory," Benike said. "And now, in order to get it here, we need $230,000 on top of what we've already paid for the product, just to get it in the country." "Can you afford that?" I asked. "Oh God, no," Benike replied. "So, what do you do?" "First, I sat on my kitchen floor and cried," Benike said. "And when I was on the floor in the kitchen, my son came in to show me something or tell me something, and he saw me sitting there, crying. My eight-year-old son. … And he put his arms around me and just hugged me. And, like, I realized I'm not gonna let him see this. This is not what we're gonna be." The tariffs hit just after Benike struck a deal to sell Busy Baby products at Target and Walmart. To produce enough inventory, she took out a loan from the Small Business Administration. "That loan is partially SBA-financed, and then partially leveraged against my house," Benike said. "So, if I can't stay in business and pay those loans, I lose the house." Inside Benike's warehouse, this is what's left: The dwindling inventory in the Busy Baby warehouse. According to owner Beth Benike, "We've got nothing more coming in." CBS News Once this inventory is sold, Benike said, "then we're out of product. Then we're sold out. We've got nothing more coming in." One of the retailers Benike supplies is Little Roo's, in Chaska, Minnesota. Owner Marissa Held-Nordling says she has seen shopper behavior change since tariffs were introduced. For the first time ever, she is allowing customers to stockpile baby registry gifts, like Benike's Busy Baby mats. That way, family and friends can still get what they need, often for baby showers months away. Marissa Held-Nordling, owner of Little Roo's. CBS News "You can't just do a registry anymore, because the products aren't guaranteed that it's still going to be on the shelf," said Held-Nordling. "So, at this point I'm allowing people to come in and fill a bin, and they can get their exact colors … and then I close the bin and I take this product off my website." While the U.S. and China begin trade talks, economists still expect most goods to get more expensive – or even go out of stock, from clothing to electronics to toys. Yale's Budget Lab says tariffs could add nearly $5,000 a year to families' household expenses. Kyla Scanlon, an economic analyst and author of "In This Economy? How Money & Markets Really Work," said, "It's probably a smart time to take advantage of this weird, uncertain moment to make sure that you have what you need, just in case prices do get more expensive. If you don't need something right away, a lot of financial advisors would recommend that you do start padding your emergency fund, and putting some money to the side." I asked, "Are these tariffs necessary to rebalance the global economy?" Crown Currency "I don't think this was necessary," Scanlon laughed. "Targeted tariffs are okay. But when you do broad, blanket tariffs on everything, and when the rate is confusing, when small businesses don't know how to invest, they don't know what they should be spending money on – it's just not a good economic environment." The legality of the Trump administration sidestepping Congress to implement tariffs is being challenged in the courts. President Trump says he imposed these tariffs in part to bring manufacturing back to the U.S. When asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" if there were discussions about giving relief to small businesses, Trump replied, "They're not going to need it. They're gonna make so much money, if you build your product here." But Benike says that's impossible – that manufacturing her products in the U.S. is too expensive: "The cost of land is higher here. The cost of insurance, the building, electricity, employees. And these factories that are producing now in the U.S., the raw materials they're bringing in are being tariffed as well." It's an untenable situation, even for someone as successful as Benike. Just last week, she was recognized for her company's success – while she worried about its survival. "I was in D.C. to receive my Small Business Person of the Year Award at the fanciest hotel in D.C., with my son in his adorable little suit and bow tie," she said. "And I just sat there feeling defeated. Where I would've loved to have celebrated that, now I have to prove it." Still, she's not giving up. She's drawing inspiration from a phrase she picked up in the military: Improvise, adapt and overcome. "So, Plan B is figuring out how to become a global brand," she said. "And not sell in the United States?" I asked. "For now," Benike said, adding, "It'll come back some day." "You have faith?" "I do. I have faith. It'll come back some day. This can't possibly last forever." For more info: Story produced by John Goodwin and Emily Pandise. Editor: Karen Brenner. See also:
