Businesses rethinking trade with US

From Sweden to Brazil, six small companies talk about how they are communicating with their US customers amid uncertainty over Trump's changing tariffs, writes Nadav Gavrielov from New York

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Victor Feliu at his chocolate company in Mexico. The changing rules for sending goods to the United States have forced him to pause his US shipments.

(PHOTOS BY NYT)

The tea farmer in Japan, the shoe company in Montreal, the chocolatier in Mexico: Small businesses around the world have been roiled by President Donald Trump's constantly changing trade policies.

The trade rules have upended strategies, prices, logistics and investments as businesses try to both inform and hold on to their US customers. Some small companies, which operate on razor-thin margins, are questioning or pausing their US expansion plans. We spoke to six businesses, from Sweden to Brazil, about how they're communicating with customers and managing the uncertainty. Here's what they said:

Víctor Feliu, who owns Feliu Chocolate in Guadalajara, Mexico, was so confused by the ever-changing rules for trade between Mexico and the United States that he has paused US shipments.

"I'm willing to pay tariffs and I'm willing to comply with the paperwork," he said. "But it's very difficult if rules are changing every few months."

While his chocolate bars are not subject to tariffs, he paused US shipments in early September after over a dozen packages were returned because of complications posed by the new rules, which covered things like labelling, more paperwork and registration, he said. It took weeks for Mr Feliu to track down the new requirements for small shipments. "We're a small business; no one tells us," he said.

He has suggested that US customers buy his chocolate through a Canadian retailer, and his plans to sell through US shops are on hold.