We’ve been hearing a lot about how President Trump’s tariffs are reshaping the global economy. For some American companies, the import taxes are immediate and devastating. For other companies, the damage — or benefits — are still unclear.
To get a closer look at the local impacts, NHPR’s Todd Bookman visited three businesses in three very different corners of the economy, all rooted in the Monadnock region.
The economic math
You’ll find more than 1,000 different models of stuffed toys in the Douglas Company’s central warehouse in Keene.
The banana slugs, bears, unicorns and narwhals — soft to the touch and made with plush fabrics — will no doubt brighten some kid’s day.
But nowadays, Scott Clarke, Douglas’s owner, could use his own pick-me up.
Since the 1980s, the company has relied on Asian manufacturers to sew and stuff the toys, including factories in China, Indonesia and Vietnam.
“It's the math of the world economy, isn't it?” says Clarke. “Production in the world moved to countries where the labor cost was less expensive.”
But those cost savings are getting squished by President Trump’s tariffs, which are currently adding a 145% tax on every toy he imports from China.
“So not only does the price go up in the marketplace, but you as a business are trying to figure out how to absorb hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he says. “And so you've got to cut your overhead. You've got to do something to survive.”
The president has said he wants to bring more manufacturing back to the U.S., but in the stuffed toy business, that may prove impossible. Clarke says there just isn’t an ample supply of available workers in the Monadnock region with the skill set or interest to sit at sewing machines in a factory for eight hours a day. And if he has to pay those laborers a prevailing wage of around $20 an hour, Clarke said, it would mean raising his prices by an estimated 400% or more.
“After 10%, I think it becomes unreasonable to ask the consumer to bear that,” he says.
That leaves him stuck, for now, paying what amounts to a 145% tax to the federal government on every container he receives from China, which is disrupting his company’s cash flow. Within 24 hours of the announcement of the latest China tariffs, Clarke decided to pause construction of a new warehouse in Keene. The uncertainty was just too much.
“We had to stop that project and put it on hold because we just couldn't tell what was going to happen,” he says.
And choices like that ripple out into the regional economy.
'This keeps the U.S. going'
Drive 30 miles east from Keene, to the town of Greenfield, and the factory floor turns from stuffed animals to steel.
“Ten minutes ago, you wouldn't be able to hear a thing, but the shop's down for lunchtime,” explains Cliff Thornberry, the president and co-owner of American Steel Fabricators.
He’s standing in his cavernous shop, where metal shavings shine on the cement floor, and welding equipment waits on work benches while his 70 employees finish their lunch.
American Steel Fabricators turn raw steel into the girders, I-beams and columns that end up as the backbone of big buildings across New England: libraries, hospitals, schools, and, yes, toy warehouses.
“This is it,” Thornberry says, as he looks out over his production floor. “Keeps the United States going.”
Upstairs in a meeting room, he clears his desk of rolls of blueprints and site plans, evidence that business is good.
But Thornberry says he is routinely undercut on bids for larger jobs by competitors based in Canada.
“We don't compete very well because they have a lot of advantages,” he says.
Thornberry points to electricity costs, which in Canada are subsidized by large hydropower plants. The Canadian government also provides healthcare to all citizens and payment insurance to firms, which allows them to recoup any missed payments from vendors without having to sue.
Thornberry estimates for every dollar he has to spend to make steel beams, it costs his Canadian rivals just 85 cents. So the 25% tariffs Trump imposed on imported Canadian and Mexican steel in March could help American firms compete with international rivals.
The problem is that in the near term, tariffs are driving up the cost of the raw steel he needs to buy, because American steel mills are now able to raise their prices and still come in below imported steel rates.
“So in the short run, they're very bad,” he says of the tariffs. “In the long run, they may be good because there'll be less foreign competition for US steel fabricators.”
But Thornberry has other worries: If the tariffs and resulting economic uncertainty slow broader economic growth in the U.S., or force a hold on public works and private building projects, that could harm the very steel fabricators the tariffs are meant to help.
“So it's, you know, it's not black or white,” he says.
'It falls on us'
Maybe you don’t buy stuffed toys. Maybe you don’t build steel warehouses.
But you do probably eat chocolate.
Chuda Mishra is showing me a Japanese Kit Kat, which he says have a richer flavor than the American variety.
“We usually have, like, six or seven different flavors,” he says.
Foreign Kit Kats are just the start. Mishra and his wife, Jennifer Carroll, own the Keene International Market, which specializes in foreign foods and beverages sourced from more than 30 different counties. They started the business during the pandemic, offering pop up pick-up locations. Then in late 2021, they opened a retail space with shelves stacked with rices, spices, oils, candies, and produce.
Along with serving the immigrant community, the market has become a favorite among urbanites who moved to the region during the pandemic.
“We hear often: I moved here, and I had no idea that I couldn't find items that I'm used to finding in grocery stores,” says Carroll. “So we've really hit a niche with that.”
The market doesn't buy directly from overseas companies, but the wholesalers and distributors across the northeast they rely on will pass along some or all of the costs of the new tariffs, including a 20% import tax on foods from Europe. And that’s what is creating a wave of uncertainty for Mishra and Carroll.
“Our South Asian distributors are already, like, we're increasing prices starting next week. It's happening,” says Carroll. “I think there's just a lot of confusion about what to expect, which falls on us to figure out what to do.”
How much can you charge for a package of frozen Nepalese momos? For Thai bananas, before customers balk?
“I don't know; it's hard to figure out at this moment,” says Mishra.
