The day before President Donald Trump’s tariffs were set to take effect against the United States’ biggest trading partners, Maïré Bavarday-Rosa, spent “hectic” hours fielding calls from anxious clients seeking help navigating international trade.
Bavarday-Rosa is CEO of Atlanta-based ECOMSPACES, and has customers with e-commerce businesses in the U.S., Africa, Europe and Canada who send their inventory to her hub, which she then ships to American consumers.
“It’s definitely disrupting businesses right now,” Bavarday-Rosa told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
On Monday, Trump delayed a planned 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico until March after both countries agreed to step up border enforcement. Despite the pause, the tariff threat rattled the markets Monday and left businesses scrambling, with the potential for renewed tensions in four weeks.
Trump went through with across-the-board tariffs of 10% on imported goods from China that took effect Tuesday morning. In response, China announced tariffs starting Feb. 10 on certain U.S. goods, export controls on certain minerals, an antitrust probe against Google and actions against other U.S. companies with operations in China.
The targeted nature of China’s response and the delayed implementation could leave room for negotiations in the days ahead.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The tariffs — both threatened and implemented — and retaliatory measures are fueling concerns and unpredictability for consumers and businesses around the U.S. and the world. In the U.S., tariffs could inflate prices on many imported goods and increase supply costs for American companies.
Georgia imports more products from China than any other country, totaling $17.5 billion in 2023, according to the most recent data from the Georgia Department of Economic Development. China is also the third-largest export market for Georgia products, totaling $3.9 billion that same year.
In a globally connected economy, Georgia buys goods from many countries and relies heavily on exports of its products overseas to fuel growth. Tariffs also don’t happen in a vacuum as countries retaliate with import taxes of their own.
The new levies China said it will impose include a 15% tax on U.S. energy imports like coal and liquefied natural gas and 10% on crude oil, agricultural equipment and other heavy machinery and certain vehicles.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
‘Have to have them’
Chris Goodman is a Tifton farmer who grows cotton, peanuts, snapbeans and citrus crops. He’s open to Trump’s proposed tariffs, but said there’s a lot of uncertainty among his fellow growers.
“People are pretty nervous right now. There’s a lot of anxiety. It doesn’t matter who you are. Even the hard-core Trumpers are nervous,” Goodman said.
He’s clear about one thing, however.
“We’re going to have to have them,” Goodman said. “The last time we had tariffs, it busted the cotton market but it helped us have better trade negotiations.”
Trump enacted tariffs in his first term that primarily targeted China. But in the opening days of his second term, he’s proposed more far-ranging tariffs that he has at least partly paused.
Even if this round of tariffs is merely a negotiating tactic employed by Trump for new trade deals, it has already created instability for people and companies around the country.
For ECOMSPACES, some businesses want to hold onto their inventory instead of sending it to the hub. New customers “are trying to pull out because they feel like right now it’s better to not try to expand and to stay still and watch what’s happening,” Bavarday-Rosa said.
Large firms in metro Atlanta are also watching the situation, should Trump’s threat of tariffs against North American neighbors boil over.
Lockheed Martin, which builds military and civilian aircraft in Marietta, said: “We will carefully evaluate the announcement and work with our suppliers to address any potential impacts.”
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Credit: Jenni Girtman
Home Depot is among the state’s Fortune 500 companies closely monitoring the tariffs. Spokeswoman Sarah McDonald said the majority of the Vinings-based firm’s goods are sourced in the U.S., but the broader housing and home improvement industries could be affected by the import taxes.
“Our teams have been through this before and we anticipate that we will manage through any new tariffs similarly to how we have done so in the past,” she added in a written statement.
‘No one wins’
The Metro Atlanta Chamber, the pro-business group that represents the region’s 29 counties, is also girding for economic fallout.
“No one wins a trade war,” said Jerry Parrish, chief economist at the Metro Atlanta Chamber. He pointed to the state’s trade relations with Canada to highlight what’s at stake.
The Peach State exports about $7.6 billion in goods every year to Canada — everything from peanuts to poultry to construction equipment. In return, Georgia imports about $6.5 billion in goods from Canada. So, if the U.S. levied the threatened tariffs against Canada, and Canada retaliated, it would have a wide-reaching impact.
“We don’t know which categories will attract retaliatory tariffs,” Parrish said. “But with exports on this scale, it’s clear that jobs across the entire state are at risk.”
The Georgia Chamber will launch a new subcommittee to address the rapidly shifting tariff landscape that will evaluate and advocate for Georgia industries reliant on international trade, including agriculture and manufacturing.
“The Georgia Chamber remains committed to working with our partners in the Georgia congressional delegation, and industry leaders to advocate for policies that promote free and competitive trade,” the organization said in a statement.
For some small businesses, the tariffs come at a particularly difficult time. Bavarday-Rosa said the end of 2024 was the worst quarter her business and other brands she works with had ever faced, as inflation-driven shifts in consumer habits led to a steep drop in sales.
She choked up as she recounted that three weeks ago, she had to lay off some workers because of a drop in volume. Some of her clients had to shut down their businesses because of the devastating fourth quarter numbers. Others are on the brink of financial collapse.
“The ones that are still up and running are wondering how it’s going to affect the cost of their products,” she said, “because even if you make your product in the U.S., a lot of things you actually import from other countries, like the containers for your product.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Packaging materials often come from China, so the price of shipping products will increase.
If Trump ultimately moves forward with tariffs against Mexico and Canada, it’ll hurt, she said.
Bavarday-Rosa also has clients in Canada for whom the costs to ship any inventory to the U.S. would jump dramatically. A 25% tariff could mean clients may decide to drop ECOMSPACES altogether, meaning she risks losing more clients.
Goodman, the Tifton farmer, said he’s “open to trying new things to help our agriculture industry.”
“The main problem is we can’t produce crops as cheaply as other countries can. I work seven days a week, even Sundays,” he said. “I can’t do any more than what I’m already doing. And I think these new tariffs will force a discussion about changes.”
Goodman said there’s not much more he can squeeze out of his farm.
“I just don’t know what else we can do,” Goodman said. “I grow 1,000 acres of cotton, and I’m calculating that every acre of cotton is set to lose $400 an acre. It’s a losing game without subsidies — or something else happening.”
— Freelancer Meris Lutz contributed to this report.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Report for America are partnering to add more journalists to cover topics important to our community. Please help us fund this important work here.
About the Authors
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
