From Sweden to Brazil, how six small businesses are dealing with the trade chaos caused by Trump’s tariffs

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The rules of commerce have upended strategies, pricing, logistics and investments as companies try to inform and retain their customers in the United States.

Some small companies, operating on razor-thin margins, are questioning or pausing their U.S. expansion plans. We spoke to six companies, from Sweden to Brazil, about how they connect with their customers and manage uncertainty. Here’s what they said.

For a Swedish designer, sales rose and then fell

Asket, a Stockholm-based clothing company, sent an email to its US customers in mid-August warning of possible price increases and the end of the de minimis exemption, which allowed goods worth less than US$800 (about R$4,300) to enter duty-free.

“This communication is not very exciting,” said August Bard Bringius, co-founder and CEO of Asket. But this sparked a buying spree, with US sales doubling within 10 days.

• capital: More than half of Brazil’s exports to the United States have already been exempted from the 40% tariff.

The company maintained price stability, sacrificing its profit margins. “Maybe this needs to change,” Bard Bringius said, adding: “Maybe we will have to raise prices in the future to make up for what we are losing now.” Exports from the European Union to the United States are now subject to a 15% tariff.

The uncertainty has been frustrating. “It’s not like all the European brands will suddenly start manufacturing in the U.S.; that’s impossible,” Bard Bringius said.

The United States is one of Sweden’s largest retail markets, but sales in the country fell in the third quarter, when the so-called “sweater tax” ended, and are now about 20% below their level a year ago.

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“I think there’s a general aversion, probably, to buying from European brands, because there’s this idea that you’re going to be hit with customs duties or that your order is going to be hit with taxes and customs duties,” Bard Bringius said.

Canadian Maguire has temporarily halted expansion in the United States

Shortly before the minimum expired, Montreal-based shoe company Maguire informed its American customers that it would begin shipping products from its U.S. stores and encouraged them to place orders before the loophole closed. This led to a sudden increase in orders coming from the United States.

About a week later, Maguire sent another email announcing the price increase. Miriam Belzil-Maguire, the company’s president and co-founder, said it has raised prices by between $10 and $30 in both the United States and Canada.

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The company has two stores in the United States, its second largest market, but is waiting before opening more units. “I want to hope for more stability,” Belzil-Maguire said.

The Brazilian coffee producer is waiting for the return of American customers

After a 50% tariff on Brazilian coffee choked off U.S. orders, Ana Cecilia Veloso, whose family owns Sao Luiz Coffee Estate in Carmo do Paranaiba, Brazil, planned to skip the San Diego Coffee Expo to promote her beans.

Now that those tariffs have been removed, she is considering leaving, but with caution. “I need to wait for the market to stabilize,” he wrote in one message, adding: “I will wait for my clients to come back to me.”

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Before the tariffs were imposed, Mariana Veron Gutierrez, founder and CEO of Tico Coffee Roasters in Campbell, California, planned to import Veloso coffee. “If the tariffs had not reached this level, her coffee would be here in my warehouse right now,” she said.

Now she is looking forward to getting her hands on Brazilian coffee as soon as possible. Although she is optimistic that interest rates will not change again this year, she remains cautious. “What is your contingency plan if something changes?” She said. “It could be tariffs again, or it could be something else.”

Japanese green tea producer opens a branch in the United States

Daiki Tanaka, who grows and sells matcha in Japan (finely ground green tea leaf powder, which comes from the Camellia sinensis plant), meets many of his American clients during guided tours and tasting sessions at his 10-acre farm, near Kyoto.

But the end of the minimum exemption this year means that many of its shipments to the US are now subject to a 15% tariff. He responded by setting up a subsidiary in the United States to import and distribute the tea he produced, absorbing the tariffs for American customers – who represented the largest direct-to-consumer market.

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“Communication is important, so this tariff issue makes everything a little more complicated,” Tanaka said.

Lauren Purvis, founder of Mizuba Tea in Portland, Oregon, imported more than 20 tons of matcha from small farms and farmers in Japan last year. This year, she said, tariffs have cost her more than $110,000, and trade policy has caused significant delays in deliveries: She has more than $120,000 worth of Japanese matcha, shipped in August and September, in Kentucky. About half of that stock is still waiting.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has suspended some tariffs, including those on green tea. But Purvis wishes everything had been planned more carefully from the beginning. “All it did was increase costs,” she said. “I think it’s hard not to feel, ‘What’s the point of this?’

Mexican chocolatier sends customers to Canada

Victor Feliu, owner of Feliu Chocolate in Guadalajara, Mexico, was so confused by the ever-changing trade rules between Mexico and the United States that he stopped shipping to the country.

“I’m willing to pay the fees and I’m willing to do the paperwork,” he said. “But it is very difficult to change the rules every few months.”

Although his chocolate bars are not subject to tariffs, he suspended shipments to the United States in early September after more than a dozen packages were returned due to complications posed by the new rules, which included issues such as labeling, documentation and registration, he said.

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It took Feliu weeks to figure out the new requirements for small shipments. “We’re a small company, and no one tells us,” he said.

He had been suggesting his US customers buy the chocolate through a Canadian retailer, and his plans to sell in US stores have been put on hold.

For the Danish retailer, mistakes cost money

Mistakes related to definitions have proven costly for Cecilie Mosgaard, co-founder of Lié Studio, a Danish accessories retailer.

“We are seeing a lot of these errors, which means our import duties are much higher than they should be,” Mosgaard said. She said that on several occasions, Lié Studio bags shipped to the United States were incorrectly labeled as originating in China – and thus subject to tariffs of up to 25% – rather than Portugal, where they are produced, implying a lower tax.

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These errors result in unexpected costs and time spent trying to get a refund, which you are still waiting for.

The company, which sells jewelry and handbags online as well as at U.S. retailers, raised prices for American customers by about 20% in mid-August.