Good Morning!
Here are today’s highlights:
This ain’t over: some tariffs have been paused, but the uncertainty remains.
Small businesses are trying to spread the word about why manufacturing in the U.S. can be a non-starter.
Ami Kassar says lines of credit are good protection during times of economic upheaval—even for those reluctant to take on debt.
For a growing number of restaurants, the design is more important than the food.
Big companies are employing AI to save money and generate revenue.
LITIGATION
This owner of a stationery shop is suing Trump over the tariffs: “Business owners around the world are still reeling from the sky-high, globe-spanning tariffs President Donald Trump has announced since taking office. Last week, Emily Ley became the first to take her concerns to court. In a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Florida last Thursday, lawyers representing Ley, a small business owner in Pensacola, argued that Trump’s tariffs on China are ‘unlawful,’ ‘unconstitutional,’ and risk having devastating consequences on businesses like Simplified, the 10-employee stationery company Ley founded in 2008. The suit, which is the first known case to challenge Trump’s tariffs, has, almost overnight, turned Ley into the very public face of a high stakes legal battle that could have sweeping consequences for the global economy.”
“‘I was seeing so much misinformation and misunderstanding about who pays the tariffs, and what they’re for,’ Ley says. ‘I just felt like I needed to share a small business perspective that came from a real person, a real human.’”
“So she wrote about her experience on Instagram: How since 2017, her company has paid $1.17 million in tariffs on imports from China, how this year, under Trump’s increased tariffs, it could be on the hook for $350,000 more, and how those costs have driven prices up for customers and salaries down for employees. ‘I cannot be quiet about this anymore,’ Ley wrote. ‘Tariffs are killing businesses.’”
“The post, which quickly went viral, caught the attention of lawyers at the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a legal group that fights what it views as government overreach. Ley’s first conversation with the firm led to ‘a zillion’ more, she says, until finally, last week—just a day after Trump unveiled a new slew of global tariffs, sending the world economy into freefall—NCLA filed the suit on Ley’s behalf, asking the court to block Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods.”
“‘My company is like my fourth child,’ Ley tells Fast Company. ‘I’m going to go down swinging if this is the end of it.’” READ MORE
