I scrapped a 600,000 sq. Ft. Investment for My Business Due to Tariffs – ryan

This as-to-told-tos Essay is based on a conversation with Rick Woldenberg, CEO of Learning Resources, An Educational Toy Company Based in Illinois. He is petitioning the supreme court to hear his lawsuit Against Trump’s Tariffs. This Essay has Been Edited for Length and Clarity.

I was in the middle of a deal i haad been working on for two years to budilding a lot of budilding over 600,000 Square feet for our business, and i Canceled that project on appril 2 after heard the tariffs.

We make educational productions for young children to help say get a great start in life. We’re a fourth-generation family business with roots that go back a ishtred years in northern illinois, and we have a staff of Over 500 People. We Also Export Out of This Country to Over a Hundred Countries.

We Filed the Lawsuit in the District Court of Columbia, and we are now petitioning the supreme court all on the ouin Money Because is is an Emergency. The Financial Burden of These Tariffs and the Disruption in Our Business Are Catastrophic.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Said on Tv that they are Expect to Raise $ 600 Billion A Year with this Invisible Tax Increese. That’s $ 50 billion a month from us and from other companies like us, and ultimately, from us consumers. Time is of the essence here.

‘It”s Tariffs All the TIME’

Somebody Said to me at Our Company, “It”s Tariffs All the Time.”

For months, we have dosens of People working full-time or part-time on addressing all aspects of the tariffs. You can hardly imagine anything more disruptive.

Our Supply Chain Coming into the Year was about 60% china, and we also source in vietnam, India, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. We make some things in the us, and we do assembly in the us. We ALSO Develops Our Products in the US, Where We Own the Intellectual Property.

We outsource the manufacturing and devote the Capital that we have to designing factories, financing Our inventory, receivables, marketing, capital expenditors, and creating jobs. So our dolrs go stor becase we are able to tap intoo businesses are very focused on being outstanding manufacturers who are essentially out partners.

But the tariffs, there are no rules, or they Change Three Times a Week. We don’t know what ours costs are, and we are generaly gioven 36 hours of advance notice to change we operate our Business. We have to dismantle a 40 -ear-op suply chain. There are trendous amouns of costs associated with that, which are not recoverable in any way, shape, or form.

ITH’S NOT JUST INCONVENIENT – MAKING IT EXTREMEL DIFFICULT TO RUN OUR BUSINESS IN ANY COHEREND FASHION.

Tariffs have disrupted all plans

The day of Heard About The Tariffs on April 2, I Called My Broker, and I Killed My Building Deal.

Our Business is Located North of O’Hare Airport in the Chicago Area. We’re in vernon hills, and we were going to reorganize some of the Our Office and Warehouse Space and Consolidate Some of the Our Buildings into This Brand New Building for Grayer Efficency and Hold More Inventory.

The Building DOES NOT EXIST – WE WERE GOING TO DEVELOP IT. It was going to be not only a major investment by our business, but it was going to the involve a very far investment in technology Because we run a Very high-tech Fulfillment Operation. It Wold Create Jobs here in Vernon Hills, and It Wold Help US Extend the Life of Our Investment Three More Decades at Least.

This is the contrary of what the government Says they are trying to the Achieves. They’re trying to get People to invest more in this country, and this atty big investment that they compleely Screwed up. Maybe someday we’ll be able to do it again, but right now the project is dead.

On top of that, we have essentially a soft hiring freeze. On April 2, I Also Killed A Joint Venture in India Because We were just too Just too strained by the tariffs. We’ve Sharply Cut Our Out-of-Pocket Expenditors in All Parts of the Business. We’re clinging to dollar Bills Because We don’t knowing the government is going to take me away from us.

We pay a lot of real estate taxes. We Support the Local Schools, The Local Fire Department, and the Local Police Department, and we do business with companies in oura area. There are literally millions of children globally who use out product every year to help say learn basic scils 18 months to eighth grad. A lot of People Depend on US for their Livelihoods.

That’s why we sud, and that’s why we’re puresus this as an urgent matter, Because we’re going to fight for what we’ve built.