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Does your business have a Plan B for the Trump tariffs? 

3 0
28.06.2025

I have a client in New Jersey who manufactures industrial films. A big source of their supply comes from two Chinese companies. You would think with President Trump's tariffs they would be suffering, right?

Luckily, the owner of the company (and her partner) paid attention. Going all the way back to 2023 they knew — like we all knew — that the presidential election would be tight. By mid-2024 it got even tighter. And what was then-candidate Trump saying back then?

He was promising significant tax cuts but providing no answers as to how they would be funded. He was promising to overturn many of the Biden administration's regulations, from environmental to DEI to overtime pay. He was promising to deport millions of undocumented immigrants. But more importantly to my client, Trump was planning on handing down big tariffs, especially targeted at China. And they took him seriously.

They're not Trump supporters, but they are pragmatists. So back in 2023 they started searching for alternative suppliers.

They reached out to nonprofits like the World Trade Center Association and Small Business Development Centers, and they got help from the International Trade Administration. They traveled to India, Malaysia and Brazil. They realized that if Trump was........

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