What You Should Know About the New Import Tariffs
Hello, grower.
We wanted to take some time to clarify the implications of the recent imposition of new import tariffs on nearly every country in the world. These tariffs, affect many of the products that we carry and will have a substantial impact on the US flower industry, generally. If you’re a customer, you should have received an email with this information last week. Read on to learn more.
First, it’s very important to know that your importer pays the import tariffs to US Customs. Import tariffs are NOT paid by foreign governments.
Perhaps the weirdest part of this whole situation is the current administration’s insistence that foreign governments pay these tariffs. This is not the case. We pay the tariffs to US Customs when affected goods are brought into the US. Our goods are not released by customs until we pay the tariffs. We were already paying a 3.5% import tariff on flower bulbs.
We estimate that we will pay over $200,000 dollars in import tariffs this year alone if the new tariff policies are not repealed. Where will all of that money come from? Unfortunately, it will have to be from a new fee line on the invoices we share with you.
We’re hopeful that these tariffs will be repealed before our primary fall shipments arrive. There is time for Congress to take action and stop them. The Senate recently passed a motion to repeal the tariffs on Canadian imports. 4 Republican Senators crossed the line to vote in favor of ending the tariffs. But it was then shut down in the Republican-led House of Representatives. We have to keep fighting.
If the tariffs are not repealed, we will have to add a line-item to our invoices to help cover them. There simply is no way we can swallow the full expense and keep the lights on to serve you in the future if we don’t pass this burden on. Wholesale flower bulb sales have small margins. These price increases will have to be passed down to the end consumer.
You might be thinking: Why not just buy American-grown flower bulbs, then?
See our previous post to learn more about why that is not a realistic solution for US flower farms.
We need to your help to tell Congress to drop the tariffs! Contact your local reps and your reps in the House and Senate and tell them you want the tariffs to be repealed. These sweeping taxes are bad for US flower farmers and bad for small business. And where will they go? To the billionaires’ income tax breaks. The average American consumer will pay higher income taxes this year and more in taxes on goods they regularly purchase. There’s only one group who’s paying less in taxes: the mega rich. All while stripping away our social services.
Will a 20% import tax mean that you pay 20% more? Fortunately, not that much. But you’ll still have an extra charge if these tariffs are not repealed.
The taxes are applied to the cost of goods upon entry. Our company will have to pay the taxes when the goods come in based on the prices the suppliers charge us.
Your price includes the cost of goods plus overseas shipping, freight shipping to our warehouse, our labor, our markup to pay for our warehouse utilities and regular maintenance, and a small profit margin to help the company move forward. Thus, an added fee to pay for these tariffs would be lower than 20% for a product with a 20% import tariff.
I hope I explained that properly. In short, the tax is proportional to our wholesale costs on our invoices from the foreign supplier, not the listed product price that you pay.
We understand that these tariff announcements may seem a bit disconcerning. We agree. We will keep fighting for farmers and the end consumer. It’s the people who count on our flowers to bring warmth to their weddings, comfort to their funerals, and joy to their children’s births that will ultimately have to carry the burden of these taxes.
Please let us know if you have any questions. Set aside some time to tell your elected officials that import tariffs are bad for your business.