Northeast Ohio businesses say tariffs have caused price increases, confusion ahead of the holidays

By Sydney Brown/Kent State NewsLab

Holiday shoppers are browsing the shelves, but as shockwaves hit the economy amid ongoing trade disputes initiated by the Trump administration, local businesses are facing the impact. 

Regional manufacturers and business owners are seeing many key products they import skyrocket in price, leaving owners with strategic questions of how to keep up in a competitive market this holiday season. 

The Trump administration first announced sweeping global tariffs in April. They argue tariffs will bring back jobs they say left the country due to the free-trade agreements of the 1990s and 2000s. 

But 50% of small businesses say tariffs have had a negative impact this year and remain a top concern, according to a Gusto survey.

“The lack of stability this year, the chaos at the federal government level, has made it tough for companies to know where they’re going next, to know what kind of income they’re going to have,” said John Kelly, director of business development at the Tuscarawas County Economic Development Corporation.

“It’s a lot of extra things now that I have to do to make up for not being able to get the other things,” said Ashtabula-based artist and dice maker Faith Burns, the creator behind ElevenWood Dice.

Burns relies on raw materials like silicon to make handmade dice. She is trying to avoid the price surges by handmaking some of the items she used to source, but she said the time and resources to mold her pieces is not a sustainable practice.  

Beyond that, shipping costs are preventing Burns from reaching the same customer base she used to. Most of her sales came from Europe and Canada, but she says she has not gotten a single sale in those countries since tariffs took effect. 

“I really do believe there is a connection there,” said Burns, who has now shifted her marketing to Etsy to get an extra boost. 

However, the Tuscarawas County EDC says some businesses have gained new U.S. customers since the tariffs made it more expensive for companies to buy products internationally. 

“A chemical company said that the tariffs have also opened up other business opportunities because their Chinese competitors are not very competitive now with the tariffs,” said Kelly, “And so this chemical company here can, you know, build some new business because of the tariffs.” 

The Trump administration’s “America First” trade policy aims to create more domestic manufacturing. But some businesses, like coffee, don’t have a domestic alternative since coffee beans can’t be grown en masse in the U.S. 

At Bent Tree Coffee, a local shop in Kent, sourcing coffee beans is driving up their costs. The manager said they are passing a 5% fee on bags of coffee on to their customers. 

“It’s just a temporary band-aid, and that hardly covers the cost,” said Jonah Onuska, the cafe manager.

Brazil, the world’s largest coffee bean supplier, has a tariff of up to 50%. 

The Trump administration released a list of exempt products from Brazil, including coffee, on Nov. 21. That will dramatically lessen the strain on local coffee shops. But the industry’s “big hitters” have been snatching up coffee beans from countries with lower tariffs, leaving others searching for new partners, Onuska said. 

Bent Tree is “taking it one day at a time, hoping to remove those fees as soon as we possibly can,” Onuska said. “And continuing to do the best for our customers that we can and source great coffees from all over the world regardless of the increased costs.”

Cost pressures are adding stress for small business owners. “Fifty-nine percent of small business owners say price changes have hurt them more this year than last year,” according to Gusto’s State of Small Business 2025 survey.

The changing rule book for global economics is leaving business on their toes heading into 2026. 

“It’s just hard to know what the rules are right now, and they keep changing,” Kelly said. “It’s not been real stable this year.”

This story was originally published by the Kent State NewsLab, a collaborative news outlet publishing journalism by Kent State students.