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.
“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.
“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.”
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.”
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.
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.
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.
