PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — As the trade war between the United States and China continues, local small businesses that rely on Chinese imports are caught in the crossfire.
On Wednesday, President Trump announced his administration was pausing reciprocal tariffs for several countries, but not China. In fact, the U.S. added a 125% to the already 20% tariff imposed on Chinese imports, for a total of 145% according to the White House. China also imposed an 84% on imported American goods.
Watch Fox 4's Alex Orenczuk report on how one business in Port Charlotte is handling newly imposed tariffs:
For small businesses like the K&K Hobby Shop in Port Charlotte, the tariffs have already impacted the bottom line. The shop sells an array of remote controlled cars, planes and vehicles, as well as model kits and DIY kits, all mostly made in China.
“Pretty much across the board from certain distributors prices have gone up at least 10%, some products more,” said owner Andy Barkyoumb. “So you’ve got to battle the inventory as new stuff comes in, reprice things and work through existing merchandise at original prices.”
He said the latest round of tariffs came as a surprise to him, and that it's been hard to keep up and plan ahead while the tariff rates change almost weekly.
“It's the uncertainty, not knowing what the percentage is going to be, if it's going to change, there's just a lot up in the air right now,” said Barkyoumb.
For the specialty items that Barkyoumb sells, he told Fox 4 there are no American manufacturers to source his merchandise from to avoid paying the increased tariffs.
“American companies, their manufacturing facilities are in China and other parts of Asia,” said Barkyoumb. “Even companies that do designing in the US, they still have their parts made and manufactured and assembled overseas.”
Barkyoumb said he’s owned K&K Hobby Shop for about a year, but the location has been open for over two decades. He told Fox 4 that the store has built a solid customer base over the years, and as he navigates the tariff situation it's more important now than ever to support local stores like his.
“In times like these when we’re seeing potential price increases, and issues with tariffs, now is the time to support your local people,” said Barkyoumb. “They can’t afford to take a huge hit, some of these bigger companies like Amazon, it won’t affect them as much as the small guy. So, now is the time to support them otherwise places like us and other places will go away unfortunately.”
K&K Hobby Shop is located at 3835 Tamiami Trail in Port Charlotte. It carries a large inventory of hobby merchandise and hosts bi-weekly RC races at an onsite track.
