Tariffs Drive US Firms Into Pricing Uncertainty

Six months of White House tariffs have reportedly left American businesses wrestling with pricing decisions.

That’s according to a report Saturday (Aug. 31) by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which cites the example of Thompson Traders, a North Carolina importer of hand-crafted tubs, sinks and other household fixtures.

The company is now rethinking prices on things like the copper bathtubs it sources from India thanks to the 50% tariffs on copper imported from that country. However, the company isn’t sure that shoppers, weary over long-term inflation, will accept, or what rivals aim to charge.

“Everyone is struggling to figure out what to do, what’s the right decision, where do we set prices,” Clifford Thompson, the company’s president, told WSJ.

As the report noted, the impact of tariffs is a big question mark facing the economy. Thus far, the new levies haven’t led to a jump in prices, largely because businesses have absorbed prices. But with pre-tariff inventories running out, companies are now facing tough decisions.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said recently that tariffs’ impact on consumer prices “are now clearly visible” in some product categories, and are expected to accumulate in coming months, the report added.

WSJ also cited a recent survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond which found that 38% of businesses were only slightly certain or not at all certain about the prices they will charge for the remainder of the year. Close to 60% were either slightly certain or not at all certain about the costs of materials for the rest of 2025.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence has also found businesses struggling in the face of the tariffs. For example, the report “Brewing Storm” shows that small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) with access to financing and readily available cash were 23% more likely to be very confident in their ability to navigate potential tariffs.

By contrast, SMBs with no access to financing were 75% more likely to have no plan to offset any additional costs stemming from tariffs. In all, 13% of SMBs had no access to any form of financing and believe their survival is at risk in the next two years.

Meanwhile, “Tariffs and Business Uncertainty: The Current State of Play” found a major shift in sentiment among U.S. middle-market firms, with more than 50% of payment heads at goods companies now believing tariffs will hurt their companies. This marks a sharp uptick from previous months, when positive and negative outlooks were evenly split at 35%.