Tariff talk with Ideoli CEO and Co-founder George Stroumboulis
The ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China has seen a number of rounds of tariffs imposed by both countries. For example, in May 2019, the U.S. started imposing a 25% tax on imported goods from China on items such as furniture and lighting products. New tariffs could take effect in the coming months, but the situation has been very fluid and unclear.
For our industry, tariffs have had an impact, “but we can’t do anything right now,” says George Stroumboulis, Ideoli’s CEO and Co-Founder.
“We’ve got to let everything settle.” George notes that for now, Ideoli is absorbing a lot of the additional costs that come from paying tariffs on imported items for our clients, and we’re not alone in this regard.
Many companies have global supply chains with important items coming from China, and even some local, U.S-based manufacturers have to deal with these tariffs because they import certain components to aid their overall production.
However, because the situation keeps evolving rapidly, we don’t want to make knee-jerk decisions like changing our pricing or supply chain practices.
Instead, says George, “We just need to sit back, let things happen and from there we’ll re-evaluate and discuss with our partners and clients.”
We’ll provide more updates as this situation progresses. Stay tuned!
