logo
Here's How Tariffs Are Impacting Real Manufacturers Today

Here's How Tariffs Are Impacting Real Manufacturers Today

Forbes09-05-2025

How are tariffs impacting manufacturers today?
There's plenty of available commentary from economists and thought leaders about how tariffs will impact manufacturers and the larger economy. Missing is the voice of the manufacturers working through these changes today. How are tariffs impacting their sales? What are they doing to prepare? Which ones are struggling? Which are benefiting?
In an effort to get to some ground-floor truth, I chatted with four manufacturing leaders to hear about how tariffs are impacting them. The reality that emerged is nuanced, but reveals that already supply and demand is recalibrating, that there is upside and downside to tariffs even within individual companies, and that your perspective on the future depends a lot on where you sit in the supply chain. Here are four stories of real companies navigating tariffs.
Early Signals and Optimism
Based in Ohio, DECA Manufacturing sources components for its wire harnesses—which serve as the nervous system of complex equipment—from a variety of distributors. While the company gets materials like copper wire from the U.S. and tries to source here first, several of the components their customers request have parts that originate overseas. So, a lot of the company's suppliers are also in low-cost countries, although not necessarily China.
DECA competes with those low-cost countries for contracts, as well, and in a few cases, tariff pressures have led to wins that President Cameron Haring says may or may not have fallen the company's way without them. 'Just the whiff of uncertainty,' he says, has impacted the market.
Haring says he'll become concerned if 'a $3 part becomes a $6 part and really starts to eat into margins …. And we're in a fight with our customer.' But he's also cautiously hopeful and sees opportunities for manufacturers to move operations back to the U.S., and then to optimize costs through design improvements and automation. He says it's too soon to say if tariffs are a net win, but there's one clear benefit. 'I think it's important to change the dialog around manufacturing,' he says. 'And I do think that's changing.'
A Boost In Business
The tariff impact at Snyder Manufacturing has been clear. They are working in Snyder's favor, leading to increased sales over the last few months, and the company is optimistic that additional increased sales could come if tariffs stay in place as they are now.
That's because the maker of a PVC vinyl laminate and PVC-coated mesh is in direct competition with cheaper, China-made options. 'We can't compete pricewise,' says Jolene Meese, president at Synder. '[Sometimes]
But even for Meese and Snyder, uncertainty looms. The company has some available capacity in-house, but expansion and equipment investments would require a deeper belief in the extended tariff picture. Meese believes that while some customers will stick with Snyder Manufacturing due to quality and service, others would likely return to importing if prices on imported goods drop again. To increase the chances that the increased sales stick, Meese believes that consistency and focus on fair competition with China over time is key. 'The uncertainty has made it really difficult for people to go ahead and make that decision to switch to a U.S. company,' she says.
A Shift To Local Supply Only Goes So Far
A wholesale distributor and manufacturer of aluminum building products, Shapes Unlimited started last year diversifying its supplier base to shield itself from possible heightened tariffs under the new administration. Long reliant on imports from Southeast Asia, the company added five new suppliers—three offshore and two domestic—to 'mitigate the risk of having too few eggs in too few baskets,' says CEO Doug Rende. 'We bet on the fact that tariffs would not be unilaterally deployed across every country on the planet. Oops.'
Even with additional domestic suppliers, tariffs have created new cost pressures and unpredictability. 'We ultimately pass it on,' Rende says. 'You have no choice.' In 2025, sales are up 25% year-to-date. The company stockpiled inventory, but that lower, tariff-imposed stock is now dwindling, lead times have lengthened, and costs are climbing. The deeper, long-term challenge is structural. He points to a massive shortfall in domestic aluminum production. 'You're not going to make up that shortfall in any sort of reasonable timeframe,' he says. 'It will take a decade, at least.'
Rende says reinvigorating American manufacturing will take coordinated investment—not just policy—but it's difficult for companies to make investments in this 'whack-a-mole' environment. 'Over the last several decades in particular, as it relates to steel and aluminum production, those who've been progressive have invested aggressively in new automation, new equipment, new procedures, to speed the process and lower the total costs,' he says. 'The lead times for the sophisticated equipment alone are 24-plus months between production, shipment, and installation.'
The Advantages Of Being In The 'Middle Of The Dog's Tail'
As a service provider to the metals industry, Uniserv services its customers' need to slit to width. They have, therefore, benefited from the fact they don't buy steel directly.
Some of their customers, however, buy from other countries like Canada, and Uniserv Vice President Jeremy Kerola has seen those customers re-assessing how much steel they're bringing across the border. 'Uncertainty leads to volatility,' he says. 'Volatility leads to a lack of confidence. And that lack of confidence, yeah, makes it challenging to tread these waters.'
Uniserv's domestic demand and its position within the supply chain has insulated the company and kept business steady for now. 'We're in the middle of the dog's tail,' he says. 'The base starts to swing, and then the tip is going to have a hard reaction. We find ourselves in the middle where everybody needs value-added manufacturing, which is what we are.'
Still, Kerola is realistic about the road ahead and the timeline that reshoring would require. 'You're talking four to five years' to rebuild domestic capacity, he says, with some equipment alone coming with a two-year lead time. But he's also optimistic that the industry's short-term pain could lead to long-term gain. 'When people go to work, there's a lot of money to be put back in Americans' pockets,' Kerola says.
Optimism Through Uncertain Times
For the companies seeing upticks in orders or anticipating them like Snyder and Deca, tariffs can be a real boon. At MAGNET, the manufacturing consulting firm I run in Northeast Ohio, we've seen some companies use tariffs as an opportunity to make meaningful investments in automation and other Industry 4.0 technologies. Even if tariffs go away, these companies could retain their competitive edge over the long haul and permanently reshore product.
But not all manufacturers are comfortable enough to make those investments, as tariff uncertainty paints a blurry picture of future supply and demand. Recent history proves that cost drives the ship—after the pandemic, when offshore pricing and availability rebalanced, the locally made (and, often, heroically reinvented) alternatives were dropped overnight. There is real fear that tariffs could go away for geopolitical reasons and eliminate the benefits of reshoring.
As the stories above show, small and medium-sized companies are hesitant to risk it with the significant investments in automation that would enable them to compete with overseas production long-term. Until they are, these companies will remain on a roller coaster.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Some L.A. Protesters Are Marching for Neighbors and Family Members
Some L.A. Protesters Are Marching for Neighbors and Family Members

New York Times

time28 minutes ago

  • New York Times

Some L.A. Protesters Are Marching for Neighbors and Family Members

Some of the people demonstrating in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday said they were first- or second-generation immigrants showing solidarity with their neighbors or family members, and a few expressed anger that their neighbors had received deportation orders. 'This is a real threat, this is not just talk,' said Zander Calderon, 36, a protester from northeast Los Angeles. He said he knew several people who had received such orders, as well as one neighbor who had self deported. 'He didn't want to live in fear,' Mr. Calderon, who wore a poncho with an image of the Virgin Mary and the colors of the Mexican flag, said of the neighbor. Others said that although they were not regular protesters, the federal government's recent immigration raids had motivated them to take action. 'This morning I couldn't stay home anymore,' said Elizabeth Torres, 36, who was carrying a Mexican flag outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday morning, as a crowd of protesters began to swell. 'If the people that are detained can see me through the windows, just know that you're not alone.' Martín Hoecker-Martinez, a physics professor who was waving an American and a Colombian flag, said that he had traveled about an hour and a half to join the protests because he could not stay home in good conscience. 'I'm an American citizen, and I think that one of the greatest points of pride of the United States is that we are a country of immigrants,' said Professor Hoecker-Martinez, whose mother came from Colombia. 'I bristle when people deride the U.S. government as the embodiment of our collective will.' Nicole Garcia, 35, attended the protest with her teenage son. She said that while she worried about the safety risks of bringing him along, she wanted him to understand 'what it looks like when community comes together.' Ms. Garcia, who described herself as Mexican American, was veiled and wore a floral wreath and face paint symbolizing the Mexican Day of the Dead. Brianna Vargas, 24, who was standing on an overpass above the U.S. 101 highway with a megaphone in her hand, said she was protesting for her parents, who had emigrated from Mexico and El Salvador, and for others who were too afraid to leave their homes. Reposting messages of solidarity with victims of immigration enforcement raids on social media is one thing, she said. 'It's different when you're actually here.'

US-China Trade Talks; LA Immigration Clashes Escalate
US-China Trade Talks; LA Immigration Clashes Escalate

Bloomberg

timean hour ago

  • Bloomberg

US-China Trade Talks; LA Immigration Clashes Escalate

The US and China are ready to resume trade talks in London today... with the flow of rare earth minerals set to be a key focus; clashes between law enforcement and demonstrators in Los Angeles over anti-deportation protests escalate. President Trump's deployment of the National Guard inflames residents... California's Governor says he will file a law suit to block the federal government's intervention; and Bloomberg learns Meta is in talks to invest in startup Scale AI. The financing may exceed $10 billion, making it one of the largest-ever private company funding deals. (Source: Bloomberg)

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store