Fall Tariff Outlook
Here’s a brief update about the current import tariff situation and what to expect for this fall. (Scroll down for the text explanation or see the video).
Upon the expiration of Section 122 of Trade Act of 1974 on July 24, 2026 (when the 150-day temporary term ended), the Trump administration applied section 301 - and is demanding import tariffs between 10% and 15% from a wide range of countries that it deems to have unfair or unethical labor practices.
Any products that you are receiving now from us, were imported during the Trade Act of 1974 tariffs.
The Trump administration includes Europe in this category, and a 10% import tariff has been levied on our flower bulbs/roots/plants. This is the fee we (Ampersand Bulb Co.) will have to pay to U.S. Customs as the importers. The fee is based on the the commercial invoices that are presented to customs along with our goods.
The tariff fee we will have to bill to our customers will be 5% of our listed prices. This percentage is lower than the percentage we are charged by customs because we do not charge tariff fees to our customers for the markup on our bulbs or the other costs of doing business, such our warehouse expenses, utilities, labor, etc.
Legal Challenges
25 states, including the state of New York (where we operate from), and New Jersey (where most of our imports arrive), have sued the Trump Administration for it’s application of the Trade Act of 1974, based on the prior rulings of the Supreme Court regarding the IEEPA tariffs (which were ruled illegal last February).
We are hopeful that the courts will rule that the Trade Act of 1974 tariffs are also illegal and that we will be able to see refunds for them as well.
Our Tariff Fee Process
We will continue to list tariff fees as a separate line on our invoices. We will not include these fees into our product pricing. The reason is simple: We want to be able to give the tariff charges back to you if and when they are ruled illegal. And we think it’s important that you see what the current administration is doing to your bottom line. If you hate them like we do, please tell your representatives today.
The separation of the fees and our determination not to wrap them into the product price allows us to efficiently issue tariff refunds, as we did before for the IEEPA tariff fees.
