Companies gird for US tariffs fight

Hundreds of small businesses affected

- ANA SWANSON TONY ROMM

EarthQuaker Devices, a manufacturer of musical instruments in Akron, Ohio, uses more than 900 components from over 15 countries to make products that alter the sound of guitars, with names such as "Tentacle," "Rainbow Machine" and "Gary.

The tariffs that President Donald Trump imposed on nearly all trading partners have drastically increased the cost of those components. But EarthQuaker is hoping that the tariff case the Supreme Court planned to hear yesterday will render those taxes moot.

The company has spent hours searching for US suppliers that would allow it to avoid paying the tariffs. The president, citing an emergency law, has slapped tariffs on more than 100 countries this year in an attempt to reduce the trade deficit and force more manufacturing to the United States. But EarthQuaker found that parts available domestically were 20 to 30 times the price of foreign ones. There has been no sign that tariffs will encourage suppliers to set up US factories to make their goods, the company said.

"We have spent many hours of wasted time and energy searching for solutions which do not exist," said Julie Robbins, EarthQuaker's CEO. The company paid the US government more than $40,000 in tariffs this year, and sales revenue dropped by 10%, she said.