Pittsburgh area small grocers facing uncertainty as some tariffs get paused and others remain
President Donald Trump has backed down on his highest tariffs on most countries for 90 days, but China is a different story, raising the tax on Chinese imports to 125%.
The president made that announcement just hours after China retaliated with an 84% tariff on American goods and now the question is, will China go higher?
The uncertainty has some local businesses already feeling the impact.
They're bracing for impact, but they aren't sure what to expect, and with the news today of the 90-day pause, it only creates more uncertainty for businesses and customers.
The 90-day pause may sound like a relief, but it still includes a 10% reciprocal tariff. For local shops that rely on international goods, the confusion is already being felt.
"Some of the vendors and importers are increasing their inventory costs to catch up and prepare themselves for what may or may not happen," said Bill Sunseri of Penn Mac Company in the Strip District.
At Penn Mac, about 90% of their items are imported, and they've seen the price shifts already.
"Some meats have jumped roughly 90 cents per pound, a dollar per pound, cheese, yesterday, I got a call [saying] it's going up $1.50 per pound," Sunseri said.
That's not just impacting the large, wholesale orders, it trickles down to the everyday shopper. Asian markets like the Lotus Food Company are already dealing with tariffs, seeing a 10-15% increase on much of their inventory, and they can only expect more with the tariff on China now being raised to 125%.
Lotus, along with other Asian markets, declined an on-camera interview but did confirm they're being impacted heavily.
At Reyna Foods, which offers Hispanic groceries and produce, they're hope is the tariffs don't force and already painful price point for produce such as avocados.
"They're $78 per case today, and that's only for 60, considering when you're making all of this stuff," said Linda Jones, a co-owner of Reyna.
For the small businesses, managing inventory while preparing for price increases has become a daily balancing act.
"I try not to get that much stuff, you can't stock up because then you'll have outdated products, so you have to get it as you need it, so you just have to watch all of this," Jones said.
The pause may sound like a break, and businesses are hopeful the tariffs will stop, but for now, they're just trying to adjust with the uncertainty.
