Some businesses in the San Francisco Bay Area are already feeling the effects of the latest U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports, while others wait with uncertainty.
For businesses such as Gingko Furniture in downtown Mountain View, the effects of the tariffs have been immediate. Jerry Xia, who has owned the store since it opened 15 years ago, told The Epoch Times that his business “will be hit quite severely.”
The increase in import duties from 20 to 145 percent has left Xia concerned, considering that about 80 percent of his products are imported from China.
The tariffs will impact Gingko’s customers as well, with Xia expecting to raise prices on his furniture in the near future. He plans to tell concerned customers that the price increases are because of the tariffs, and he hopes they will understand.
“You have to anticipate—some people will walk away,” he said.
Xia hopes the tariffs will settle peacefully with U.S. trade partners. He shared concerns about talk of a potential recession on the way and said he will just have to wait and see how things play out on a daily basis.
In early 2025, President Donald Trump increased tariffs on Chinese imports, with the latest tariff rate totaling 145 percent. The Trump administration says the new tariffs are an opportunity to restructure global trade by bringing manufacturing back to the United States and reducing the country’s trade deficit.
Michele Nash-Hoff, president of ElectroFab Sales, a California-based manufacturers’ representative firm, said that businesses will know within the next three to six months whether the tariffs will be long-term.
“The tariffs will be an additional major driver to returning manufacturing to America, especially if the tariffs are not just temporary, if they’re long-term,” she told The Epoch Times.
Nash-Hoff thinks the tariffs are not going to have an impact on inflation like some people are fearing. She referenced the 2018 U.S. tariffs on steel, aluminum, and some imports from China, which were followed by only about a 0.5 percent rise in the inflation rate.
She said the latest tariffs will benefit the U.S. economy by creating more American jobs, which means more people paying taxes. That, in turn, will help reduce the country’s annual trade deficit and lower its national indebtedness, she said.
An April 2024 survey from digital manufacturing marketplace Xometry and market research company John Zogby Strategies has shown that a majority of CEOs were already looking at bringing manufacturing back to the United States.
The survey found that 78 percent of manufacturing CEOs have already reshored or are actively reshoring parts of their operations. It also found that 88 percent of CEOs “agree the health of American manufacturing depends on reshoring.”
Other local businesses have yet to experience direct impacts from the tariffs. Jose Olibo, owner of The Off Ramp bicycle shop in Santa Clara, told The Epoch Times that it’s too soon to feel the impact. He said some manufacturers have mentioned that import duties may change for several products, especially e-bikes, but he is unsure of how much.
The shop’s main supplier, Giant, is one of the world’s largest bicycle manufacturers. The company is based in Taiwan and also has production facilities in China. Giant has informed Olibo that importing its products could become costlier within the next few months, but did not provide specifics, he said.
Despite this, Olibo is not considering switching manufacturers, saying that Giant has supported him well for many years. He is prepared to decrease his already small inventory before considering raising prices.
The exterior of The Off Ramp bike shop in Santa Clara, Calif., on April 12, 2025. Conner Lee/The Epoch Times
