Throughout his campaign, President Donald Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico, along with additional tariffs on China. On his first day in office, Trump doubled down on that stance, telling reporters that he is considering slapping 25% tariffs on Mexican and Canadian goods “because they’re allowing vast numbers of people and fentanyl to come in” to the United States.
An announcement could come Feb. 1, Trump said, without detailing when the new taxes would take effect.
With that as the backdrop, flooring suppliers, especially those with a stake in the targeted countries, are on notice that tariffs could be in the offing—either as a negotiating ploy or an actual economic strategy.
FCNews rounded up several leading executives to ascertain where they stand on tariffs, and whether it’s beneficial or detrimental to the flooring industry and the U.S. economy.
In favor of
Kevin Frazier — Frazier’s Carpet One Floor & Home
Tariffs, or the threat of tariffs, force: 1) Re-investment in domestic manufacturing; and 2) More stable international behavior from those countries benefitting from the USA’s GDP—both of which are important to the USA maintaining command and control of our own economic destiny. Having foreign manufacturing partners is extremely beneficial if it doesn’t wildly undermine our control of our own economy. That means we must routinely negotiate our position through the exertion of leverage, including tariffs or the threat of tariffs.
Olga Robertson — FCA Network
While I am not “pro tariffs” I am an advocate of using tariffs as a hammer to get what we want—like stopping drugs and criminals from crossing our borders. Put the onus on Mexico, for example. They need to sell their goods in the U.S.—it’s a huge market for them. The same with Canada. We already have a tariff on Chinese goods; that hasn’t changed. Trump is talking about another 10% tariff if they don’t stop sending chemicals used to make fentanyl into Mexico. He made a promise to the American people and can only deliver safety and security by leveraging the threat of tariffs.
Dave White — Tri-West
I’d like to see Trump use these tariff proposals as a great starting point as leverage for future trade negotiations. Remember he threatened Mexico with additional tariffs in his previous term to assist with the border, and it worked. I think he’ll apply tariffs as needed to help secure the border and force improved trade agreements for the U.S.
Steve Kleinhaus — Big D Flooring Supply
From what I have read, much of the illegal drugs that come into the U.S. flow through Mexico but are initiated in China. Hopefully using these tariff negotiations will reduce this amount, consequently reducing the deaths and crime in our country. I see tariffs as having very little impact for our industry and hopefully a win for the future of our country.
Kevin Rose — Carpetland USA
The pros to implementing tariffs are directly related to creating more jobs in the U.S., which is great because I am all for selling domestic products. My only question is how many people will be employed by these domestic plants given that we have become more reliant on robotics in the manufacturing industry.
Against
Don Finkell — East Paragon
At East Paragon the uncertainty of future tariff levels makes importing somewhat like rolling the dice. Our products are high end, which require EIR to achieve maximum realism. These products are not currently available from domestic manufacturers or many Asian suppliers. This will take a while to sort out. So, we’ve stocked up on inventory to give us some breathing room.
Julian Dossche — International Flooring Co.
To put a sweeping tariff on a major category and on specific countries … that is where it gets a little gray for me. Having a 100% nationalistic policy is not good for our industry or the economy. If anything, what tariffs do is make companies not put all their eggs in one basket.
[The vast majority] of our product comes from abroad. As an industry we cannot make everything here, we just cannot. If tariffs are implemented, everyone in the rigid core industry will raise prices, which will cause our retail partners to raise prices and consumers will pay more.
I think we as an industry should be monitoring bad actors and figure out ways to manage that; accordingly, what that looks like I have no idea, but that’s why we have anti-dumping and countervailing duties in place. Overall, tariffs are a net-negative to pricing.
Raj Shah — MSI
Ultimately, [tariffs] are inflationary to the product, which could reduce total demand. With housing prices and labor costs already at highs, additional costs in flooring materials could hurt consumption.
Raffi Sarmazian — Sarmazian Brothers Flooring
Economics 101 teaches us that trade wars, or tariffs, are good for no one. In the end, consumers suffer with higher prices, which further drives inflation. It’s best to be friendly with your closest allies and work through our differences through diplomacy, not trade wars.
Len Andolino — Couristan
We are extremely concerned about tariffs. On our residential side, we do not import a lot of products from China. On our hospitality side, we do have a joint venture in China. We are certainly not the kind of company to sit with our head in the sand. We are looking with our joint venture partner for alternative opportunities in countries that can bring us the quality weaving that we require but to get away from these excessive tariffs.
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