China-US Trade Tensions: Small American businesses feeling the pinch

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The impact of this trade war is expected to hit a wide-range of American businesses. In the state of Colorado, three relatively small companies, which specialize in headwear and various clothing items, could be affected in very unique ways. CGTN's Hendrik Sybrandy reports.

Keith Johnson is Chief Creative Officer at Elope, a Colorado Springs company that designs, makes and distributes costumes and accessories like this knit cap.

KEITH JOHNSON CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, ELOPE "Just a simple panda. This is a good one for China because this is China's national animal. There ya go."

Elope stands for "Everybody's Laughing On Planet Earth". But Johnson's not amused by the new US tariff on goods from China. That's where Elope manufactures all of its 1,000-plus products. The first wave of tariffs started at ten percent and will climb to 25 percent on January first.

KEITH JOHNSON CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, ELOPE "You do the math. That's a lot of tariff on one hat. So if a hat costs four dollars, we're paying over a dollar. It's too much. It makes it very difficult to stay competitive and to keep manufacturing."

Salewa North America, based in Boulder, Colorado, manufactures a range of outdoor gear and apparel. Its headwear, much of it made in China, has also just been tariffed.

DREW SAUNDERS NORTH AMERICA OPERATIONS DIRECTOR, SALEWA "It's either going to be a negative financial impact on us or directly on our customer."

And Cocona, also in Boulder, develops and sells technology that helps moisture vapor move through clothing and bedding. China is a key export market for them.

JEFF BOWMAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, COCONA "The products that we're selling our technology into, those are very much affected by tariffs. It'll put a burden on our customers who are bringing goods back into the United States."

HENDRIK SYBRANDY DENVER "In August, those three companies wrote into the U.S. Trade Representative asking to be exempted from the planned tariffs which, they argued, would affect their livelihoods and increase their cost of doing business."

DREW SAUNDERS NORTH AMERICA OPERATIONS DIRECTOR, SALEWA "Then we'd be in a position to either eat that because we've presold those goods to our retailers and our customers or we'd be forced to raise those prices."

KEITH JOHNSON CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, ELOPE "And our customers are already complaining that prices are too high."

Johnson, who employs 50 people, worries retailers he sells to may start manufacturing these items themselves.

KEITH JOHNSON CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, ELOPE "I would say yes that it definitely puts us in jeopardy."

Salewa's Drew Saunders, who employs 15, says his company may have to move its supply chains out of China if the tariffs last much longer.

DREW SAUNDERS NORTH AMERICA OPERATIONS DIRECTOR, SALEWA "It's not necessarily an easy thing to do."

Cocona's Jeff Bowman, who has 20 employees, worries about the viability of his firm and says he won't be the only one feeling pain.

JEFF BOWMAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, COCONA "Ultimately who loses, those people who are cutting and sewing in China, they're losing."

Three companies that aren't opposed to US trade policy, in principle, but hope the current disputes don't last much longer.

KEITH JOHNSON CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER, ELOPE "They're squeezing out these businesses that are employing people in America."

DREW SAUNDERS NORTH AMERICA OPERATIONS DIRECTOR, SALEWA "We're very concerned but we're also taking a wait-and-see approach to see how it plays out."

Hendrik Sybrandy, CGTN, Denver.