Six months after rates, businesses have no idea how to praise something

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. Jeanne Whalen, The Wall Street Journal 7 min Read 30 Aug 2025, 06:30 IST Jarvis Walker, who has been working at Thompson Traders for four years, has a sink to be packed and sent. Summary of Northern Carolina Company says tariff uncertainty has made way for a new problem: what to ask. “Everyone struggles to find out what to do.” Greensboro, NC – How much should a copper bath cost? Clifford Thompson is trying to figure it out. Until now, the hand -covered baths have had its family business from India a proposed selling price of about $ 3.300. President Trump’s 50% rate of 50% on brass imports and steep charges on goods from India forces Thompson traders to reconsider the price, but it’s not easy to establish a new one. Just this week, the levies on Indian goods doubled to 50% – days before an appeals court made the legal basis for at least part of the rates, a decision that is probably on its way to the Supreme Court assessment. The negotiations of the North Carolina company with retailers about even small price increases are very slow. And Thompson, the president of the company, is not sure what inflation-alien consumers will accept-or how many competitors plan to charge. “Everyone is struggling to find out what to do, what is the right decision, where our prices are stuck,” Thompson said from the 30-person’s warehouse offices founded by his mother, Alejandra Ochoa de Thompson. The impact of rates was a question hanging over the economy. So far, the global trade war has not caused a rise in prices. This is largely because businesses have taken up price increases, although it may not last. Pretariff inventions are low and force businesses to confront difficult price decisions that they can no longer delay. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said last week that the effects of rates on consumer prices are “now clearly visible” in some categories of goods, and it is expected to accumulate in the coming months. In a recent survey by Richmond Fed, about 38% of businesses reported that they are just slightly sure or are not sure about the prices they will charge for the rest of the year. Almost 60% were either slightly sure or not sure about the cost of materials for the rest of the year. Thompson dealers say his pricing can not last forever because it cannot record a double-digit import tax on so many goods. If it cannot raise enough prices by the end of the year, it may need to take drastic steps to reduce costs, including lowering marketing and executive wages, Clifford Thompson said. However, repetition is not as easy as changing a label Non-Deels because suppliers and big-goat stores are busy with an epic struggle over who will pay. Retailers, including Lowe’s and Home Depot, buy Thompson Traders’ true and set up the retail price itself. And they were reluctant to pay Thompson dealers more. In May, the company filed a request asking Lowe to pay 4% to 5% more for a variety of kitchen sinks manufactured in Turkey, which has just been hit with an extra import tariff of 10%. Depending on the size, the ceramic of the ceramics of the ceramics generally sold for $ 249 to $ 499. Chris Devillers, who handles Thompson’s negotiations with large retailers, completed a worksheet that documents the product costs, duties and cargo costs to justify its requested new price. By July, he was still waiting for a decision, and he fueled the retailer. At the end of July, Trump rose the tariff on Turkish goods to 15%. Lowe’s, who refused to comment, finally agreed to a 4% to 5% increase on some sinks last week, but not all, Devillers said. He has not yet returned to ask more in the wake of the increased tariff, partly because he is not sure that 15% is the final levy. Thompson dealers may have to ‘eat it’, he said. “I’m not sure.” Thompson dealers say Home Depot has agreed to the price increases on some items, but not all. The company did not approach the dealer again on the increased tariff on Turkey. Thompson Traders has struggled to get retailers big box to pay more for his kitchen sinks, which now have higher import tariffs. Home Depot said it could not comment on specific suppliers, but pointed out that Merchandising Executive Vice President Billy Basteek was made on a earnings call this month. Bastek said higher rates mean that there will be ‘modest price movement in some categories’, but that the company is ‘laser -oriented’ to protect the cost of its customers. Clifford Thompson said he understands that retailers ‘are also in a very narrow place’, and are concerned that the price applications of thousands of suppliers may attract further inflation and the demand for SAP. So his business tries to limit how many times it returns to the big -box stores with new requests, even if rates change week to week, he added. “We can’t go back two weeks later and say,” Ah, sorry, now it must be this price. “They just don’t work that way. ‘The company is concerned that the steep rates on buyer can force it to stop selling a few items, including a buyer bowl sold for $ 450 at big -goat stores. Devillers have not completed a new price, but think it may have to be up to $ 800 if rates remain the same, which makes the sink probably too expensive for the retailers. Prices uncertainty urged the company this month to ask the Indian factory to stop the consignment of 50 copper baths already made up for delivery. Prices decisions are also complicated by a lack of clarity on how the rates are applied. Alejandra Thompson de Jordan, Clifford’s sister and head of marketing for the company’s higher products-many of which were made in Mexico-who analyzed the market and compiled a new price list for the copper and copper sinks, range and other objects. She was ready to send it to her retail and interior design customers a few weeks ago when her other brother, JJ Thompson, called to say that the assumptions of the company could be wrong. Devillers spent half of the night reading our customs and border protection documents and now believed that CBP does not charge the 50% copper and copper tariff on the value of the raw materials used in a product – not at the value of the completed item. This means that their tariff costs may be lower than they originally expected, and her new prices are too high, Thompson de Jordan said. But when Devillers and JJ Thompson called three different Customs brokers to see if their new conclusion was correct, they received three different answers. “I haven’t sent it yet,” Thompson de Jordan said of her price list. “I have anxiety about it now.” For some items, including copper baths, Thompson Traders is investigating the market before asking retailers to prevent it from being synchronized with competitors. It is undertaking competitors’ online pricing and risking sales representatives and kitchen and bath showrooms for feedback on possible price changes. Thompson Traders has considered producing items domestically, but says the barriers are too high. Clifford Thompson said the company said many of its hand-hammered copper and copper items from a city in Mexico where artisans have been linked since the Middle Ages. He tried to create it in the US that the small business cannot afford, he said. Tariff-related questions still hang on several of the countries that provide Thompson dealers. Trump’s negotiations with Mexico on a potential trade transaction continue, which can change the levies on the import of that country. Trump also did not reach an agreement with China, from where Thompson Traders imports are sinking. And the company does not exclude changes to rates on India, Turkey and other countries. “If people think rates are the best thing for the country, [then] We are in order with the rates, “Clifford Thompson said.” What we really would love is just a little clarity on it … so we can say, “Ok, here’s what the price is,” and we can go on. ‘Write to Jeanne Whalen at [email protected] Catch all the business news, market news, the latest news update. #Donald Trump #Genitstate Read next story