Latest news with #Benike
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tariffs make running operations ‘less feasible': Small business owner
(NewsNation) — As tariffs continue to impact major shopping giants like Target and Walmart, small businesses across the U.S. are feeling the effects as well. Busy Baby CEO Beth Benike joined 'NewsNation Now' to talk about how it's becoming harder to run her operations. 'The problem is, we are too small,' said Benike. 'Manufacturing in the U.S. is very expensive, and in order for the business model to work for the U.S. manufacturers, they need to manufacture things in large volumes. As a startup and very small company, we don't make enough units to make it worth their time to work with us.' Benike, an Army veteran, started Busy Baby to give parents products that are within reach and off the ground for their children. All those products were being made in China because no one in the U.S. would make them for her. But things changed for Benike quickly once President Trump took office and implemented tariffs on dozens of countries earlier this month. Home Depot says it doesn't expect to boost prices because of tariffs 'So we never expected 145 tariffs, and it's been out there for a long time,' she said. 'We started a GoFundMe to try and raise money, and unfortunately, we didn't get anywhere near the goal. The goal was $230,000, I would have had to pay. I've never paid a tariff prior to this in the five years of importing products.' Benike added that her business did raise enough money to support to bring in the products that were being kept in China, but there is still the challenge of getting the products on a ship and getting them to the United States. And with the demand high, her costs have doubled. 'So I need to get this product here, because if I don't have it, I can't sell it,' acknowledged Benike. 'I can't pay my bills or my employees.' With the current tariffs in place, Benike says she is parallel planning, building out an international distribution strategy and selling products in bundles. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'Why Is That Okay?' – Kevin O'Leary Blasts U.S. Legal System As Chinese Companies Sue Americans After Stealing Ideas
Kevin O'Leary, entrepreneur and "Shark Tank" investor, is asking a question many American small business owners are starting to echo: "Why is that okay?" His remarks come amid growing concern that U.S. businesses are being squeezed by two forces—intellectual property disputes with overseas factories and steep import tariffs that threaten to sink startups before they can grow. O'Leary shared his frustrations during an April appearance on "The Megyn Kelly Show," where he reflected on the experience of Beth Benike, founder of Busy Baby. Her story, he said, represents a growing number of entrepreneurs caught in the crosshairs of trade and legal systems they can't control. Don't Miss: 'Scrolling To UBI' — Deloitte's #1 fastest-growing software company allows users to earn money on their phones. Invest where it hurts — and help millions heal:. Benike, a U.S. Army veteran, designs silicone placemats to help parents keep their babies' items off the floor. Her product gained popularity after a "Shark Tank" appearance. However, the decision to manufacture her products in China became problematic when tariffs increased dramatically. In an interview with NewsNation on April13, Benike said that she budgeted for tariffs in the 20%-30% range. But after the Trump administration increased duties on Chinese imports, her costs jumped by 145%, stranding her shipment overseas. She launched a GoFundMe campaign in April to raise $229,000 just to get her products released. O'Leary confirmed to Kelly he was familiar with the deal and Benike's dilemma. "This is certain death for some businesses," he said. "It's insane." Trending: How do billionaires pay less in income tax than you?. But that wasn't the only issue on his radar. O'Leary also criticized the growing number of cases where Chinese companies allegedly copy American inventions—and then sue the original creators in U.S. courts. "The crazy thing is Chinese companies use the American legal system to sue American companies after they've knocked them off," he said. Benike took to LinkedIn on April 10 to argue that products with American patents should be exempt from the tariffs. "Tariffs and IP theft should be two different conversations," she wrote. O'Leary, meanwhile, supports tariffs as a way to hold China accountable for what he described as widespread disregard for intellectual property to the FBI, approximately 80% of U.S. economic espionage cases in recent years have involved conduct benefiting China. The U.S. Trade Representative's 2025 National Trade Estimate Report also urged China to expand civil liability for misappropriation and increase criminal penalties for IP violations. Meanwhile, small businesses remain caught in the middle. The American Action Forum estimated that nearly 40% of Chinese imports are purchased by small businesses, many of which don't have the capital to weather a 100%+ tariff spike. A Budget Lab study from Yale in March found that tariffs have driven up consumer prices by 2.3%, equaling a $3,800 hit to the average U.S. household. For small firms, that's the difference between growth and closure. Read Next: Nancy Pelosi Invested $5 Million In An AI Company Last Year — Deloitte's fastest-growing software company partners with Amazon, Walmart & Target – Image: Shutterstock UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? APPLE (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report TESLA (TSLA): Free Stock Analysis Report This article 'Why Is That Okay?' – Kevin O'Leary Blasts U.S. Legal System As Chinese Companies Sue Americans After Stealing Ideas originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Busy Baby founder speaks out against tariffs in Washington
May 6—WASHINGTON — After being honored in Washington, D.C. as Minnesota's top small business person, Busy Baby founder Beth Benike joined U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, Tina Smith and Chuck Schumer on Monday to discuss a bipartisan bill to undo the tariffs she says are killing her business. The award that she accepted with her 8-year-old son was from the U.S. Small Business Administration, which chose the top small businesses in each state for 2025. Shortly after receiving the award, Benike made her way to a press conference about how tariffs are impacting small businesses across the country. Due to the size and nature of her business, having her products manufactured in China was the only economically feasible choice. When the U.S. imposed 145% tariffs on goods made in China, it stranded three months' worth of Busy Baby inventory in China as Benike could not afford the $230,000 of additional tariff fees. Since then, that inventory has dropped even more. "I have maybe two months' worth left in my warehouse in Minnesota, and when that's gone, I have no more revenue. I cannot pay my employees. I cannot pay my bills. I cannot pay the loans which I have leveraged my house against so we could lose our house," she said during the press conference. "So, I am asking ... begging for support from both parties, to support our small businesses and get rid of these tariffs on U.S.-owned small businesses. It doesn't just affect me when I go out of business. It affects all those contractors that I pay to help me with my business ... There are thousands of us. So this is hurting more than just people importing from China." Benike, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan and Kosovo, created the prototype for her Busy Baby silicone placemat in her kitchen in Oronoco. She was helped by economic development groups in the region, including the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation in Owatonna. She also appeared on the TV show "Shark Tank," which features start-up pitches. "The small business owners that are standing here with us today, they do not have a direct dial number for the White House. They do not have the president's cell phone. They are not like a major, major CEO of a Fortune 500 company that can call and get a meeting with the White House and then get their products exempted," said Klobuchar. "The unfairness and the destruction of the competitive marketplace for small businesses will have longer-term effects than anyone can even imagine." Klobuchar's bipartisan bill with Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, to undo the tariffs on Canadian goods passed the Senate last month. It was also supported by Republican Sen. Rand Paul. Klobuchar and Smith also recently voted for a bipartisan bill to overturn Trump's across-the-board global tariffs. Klobuchar co-sponsored the Trade Review Act of 2025, bipartisan legislation by Sens. Maria Cantwell and Chuck Grassley to restore congressional oversight of tariffs. "For American entrepreneurs, this is not a political issue. This is about the survival of their businesses and the survival of their dreams. Beth Benike's story shows us so clearly that President Trump's chaotic approach to tariffs is putting small businesses like hers at risk. It's hurting people's capacity to make payroll, it's hurting our economy and it's hurting American consumers," Smith said. Benike has been speaking out against tariffs since early April. She said it is not a political issue for her, but an issue of economic survival. "Small businesses are not going to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., so let us be exempt and at least stay in business. If the mission is to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., we're not the ones who are going to do it," she said at a press conference at her Zumbrota warehouse on April 21.
Newsweek
02-05-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Iraq Veteran Says Trump Tariffs Sinking Her Baby Products Business
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. A business owner and U.S. Army veteran says that President Donald Trump's tariffs on China have posed an "existential threat" to her company and warned that these could spell disaster for America's broader small business community. Beth Benike founded her company, Busy Baby LLC, along with her brother Eric in 2017, with the aim of helping parents manage their lively and active children. As well as its flagship product, a suction cup placemat for "busy babies," the company now offers a range of products from travel bibs to teething spoons—growing into a sizeable operation generating millions in annual revenue. However, Benike told Newsweek that the introduction of higher tariffs, affecting Chinese products in particular, has left her unable to import products from her manufacturer and is struggling to save her small business. Benike, whose career in the U.S. Army included stints in Bosnia and deployments in Kuwait and Iraq, said she was unsurprised by the announcement of tariffs on China—which were floated by Trump on the campaign trail—and initially believed her business would be able to swallow the increased costs. Beth Benike with her brother Eric. Benike is seen standing in the Busy Baby warehouse in Minnesota. Beth Benike with her brother Eric. Benike is seen standing in the Busy Baby warehouse in Minnesota. Beth Benike However, as the rates increased—from 10 percent to 20 percent, to 104, to 125—she began fearing for the future of Busy Baby. The effective 145 percent tariff now in place, Benike said, is "literally impossible" for her to afford, and has left $158,000 worth of paid-for inventory stranded in China. Her GoFundMe campaign has raised a portion of the $229,100 needed just to pay these new import taxes, and Benike said she only has enough inventory in the U.S. for three more months. Should her company go under, Benike said there would be a "massive ripple effect of other small businesses," including those who "don't have anything to do with this issue." "We have agencies we use to help us. We pay them monthly as advisers to help us with that business. I pay a bookkeeper, an accountant, email marketing people," she said. "If I go out of business, every single one of those businesses now loses that money that they were counting on from my business every month." Beth Benike and her brother, Eric, at Busy Baby's warehouse in Minnesota. Beth Benike and her brother, Eric, at Busy Baby's warehouse in Minnesota. Beth Benike Asked about the prospect of reshoring manufacturing to avoid the new duties—one of the policy's intended outcomes—Benike said she had spent weeks "digging into this," but that doing so for the Busy Baby mat would result in a roughly 60 percent price increase that customers "aren't going to pay." As well as price, Benike said it was a question of infrastructure, and the superior range and quantity of specialized manufacturing capabilities China's export-heavy economy has developed. "China has been doing this for five decades," she said. "They have mastered it. They are efficient." Benike added: "We have three months right now of staying in business. We don't have 16 to 20 weeks to move our manufacturing and set up at a new place. Just none of that makes sense for us." Regarding potential price increases—already adopted by some companies to cope with the rising import taxes—she said this would only be viable or effective once the products were already in the country, and that small businesses lack the available capital necessary to import now and adjust their business model later. Benike believes small businesses should be granted an exemption from the tariffs—like the reprieve given to the tech industry by Trump in mid-April, which she said would benefit corporations like Apple, calling it "really unfair." "If the mission is to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., small businesses like mine aren't going to be the ones to do it," she said. "It's going to be the big businesses that have the pocketbooks and the volume of sales." Beth Benike pitches her Busy Baby mat on Season 12 of "Shark Tank." Beth Benike pitches her Busy Baby mat on Season 12 of "Shark Tank." Beth Benike This idea has received backing in recent weeks, with Representative Kelly Morrison, a Minnesota Democrat, writing to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick in mid-April to request that small businesses be spared the effects of the administration's "sweeping tariff policy." "On April 11, the Trump Administration issued a temporary exemption for smart phones, computers, and other electronics, excluding them from the 125% 'reciprocal tariffs' levied on Chinese imports," the congresswoman's read. "While we welcome the suspension of these tariffs to provide relief to American consumers, we remain concerned that the Administration is more attuned to the needs of large corporations than small businesses." On Wednesday, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce similarly sought an exemption for small business importers, as well as for products that cannot be easily sourced domestically. "The Chamber requests the administration take immediate action to save America's small businesses and stave off a recession," the group wrote in a letter Lutnick as well as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller, responding to a reporter's question on the Chamber of Commerce letter, said that relief for small businesses would come "in the form of the largest tax cut in American history." Benike said customs authorities could easily implement this exemption by simply verifying an importer's small business registration. However, she said the idea has yet to gain enough traction, with a disappointing level of support coming from the Small Business Administration (SBA). Last week, SBA administrator Kelly Loeffler, a former Georgia Republican senator, praised the Trump administration for addressing an "unsustainable" trade deficit and deceptive trading practices by foreign nations. "What President Trump is doing is standing up for the American worker, for small businesses, for farmers, and saying enough," Loeffler told Fox News. Benike will soon be travelling to Washington, D.C., to accept the award for Minnesota Small Business Person of the Year and told Newsweek she plans to plead the case further with those on the Hill. Newsweek has reached out to the Commerce Department and SBA via email for comment.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Minnesota representative asks Trump administration to exempt small businesses from China tariffs
Apr. 21—ZUMBROTA, Minn. — Standing in a Zumbrota warehouse next to Busy Baby founder Beth (Fynbo) Benike, U.S. Rep. Kelly Morrison urged the Trump administration to immediately change course and exempt small businesses from the 145% tariffs on goods coming from China. "As an American, and especially as a member of the Committee for Small Business, it is absolutely unthinkable that the administration is doing this to our small businesses, and that the Republican majority in Congress is allowing it to happen. It's unthinkable to me that this administration and congressional majority are willfully choosing to force small business owners into making impossible decisions," said Morrison to the crowd gathered on Monday for the press conference. "... This does not need to be happening. These trade wars are not only reckless, they are completely unnecessary." Benike, named the U.S. Small Business Administration's Minnesota 2025 Small Business Person of the Year, said her business is down to six to eight weeks' worth of supply of her baby products. She is still trying to get $158,000 of her silicone place mats that are sitting in storage in China to the U.S. to keep her company afloat. "Small businesses are not going to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., so let us be exempt and at least stay in business. If the mission is to bring manufacturing back to the U.S., we're not the ones who are going to do it," she said, reinforcing Morrison's statements that the trade war with China is not boosting U.S. manufacturing as promised by President Donald Trump. Morrision, who wrote a letter to U.S. Commerce Sec. Howard Lutnick and Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent asking for a small business exemption, pointed out that the administration had exempted smartphones and laptops from the Chinese tariffs, which benefited Apple. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, donated $1 million to Trump's Inaugural Committee. "Small business owners may not have millions of dollars to personally lobby the president, but they are the backbone of our economy. ... Their voices must be heard, so that's what we're doing here today. We're calling for immediate relief for America's small businesses," said Morrison. "If we can make one thing explicitly clear here today, it is that we do not have the luxury of time. We need immediate action from this administration." Morrison, a Democrat who represents Minnesota's Third District, described Benike as "the picture-perfect example of the American dream and success." And yet, while the U.S. Army veteran had managed to create a successful small company, its future is in danger due to the tariffs. Benike created the prototype for the placemat in her kitchen in Oronoco. Helped by economic development groups, including the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation in Owatonna, she started to grow Busy Baby and even made an appearance on the "Shark Tank" TV show that features start-up pitches. Busy Baby products are on the shelves at Walmart and Target, for now. While she has enough product to fulfill her contract with Target, a deal to expand her relationship with Walmart is on hold due to the tariffs. While hoping for an exemption and looking for options to refocus her company internationally, Benike is trying to crowdfund $229,000 on GoFundMe to pay tariffs on the Busy Baby products stranded in China, where they were made. "We're not going to fail. We're not going to teach our kids that you just lay down and give up. So we have a lot to try to figure out yet. We're going to keep working at it. I'm going to D.C. to get my award, and we're going to ask (for tariff relief). I'm going to continue using my voice for small businesses," she said.
