Reno Gazette Journal: ‘I’ve lost sleep’: Uncertainty from Trump tariffs rattles Reno businesses

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From snowboards to booty shorts, business owners in Northern Nevada voice concerns about the impact of sweeping tariffs on their products and business.

Jason HidalgoMark Robison Reno Gazette Journal

Published 5:30 am PT April 13, 2025 Updated 1:54 pm PT April 14, 2025

Jessica Schneider walked into a room with boxes piled high, Tetris-style, their white labels lending order to the otherwise chaotic scene of hats, scarves and clothing around her.

Schneider, who owns Junkee Clothing Exchange in Reno, looked at the merchandise reaching all the way to the ceiling in disbelief.

“This is not even my main stock room,” Schneider said. “This is just — oh, my God.”

Asked about the reason behind the sudden surge of stock for her store, Schneider identified one word as the culprit.

Tariffs.

Like many business owners in Northern Nevada, Schneider is dealing with the aftershock from President Donald Trump’s seismic on-and-off tariffs, which have roiled markets and led to fears of a global recession. Although Trump paused higher reciprocal tariffs against all other countries for 90 days after concerns over a bond market crash, a 145% tariff remains in place for China, as does a universal 10% tariff rate against all other countries.

Schneider did not even wait for Trump to start his second term before tackling the specter of tariffs head on. 

Shortly after the election, Schneider decided to order her entire stock for 2025. It doesn’t take Nostradamus to predict that Trump would be implementing tariffs, according to Schneider. The Junkee owner pointed out that Trump not only campaigned on tariffs, he wielded them unabashedly during his first presidency.

Although Schneider’s decision looks smart today, she admitted being extremely nervous about it for months. Her decision meant charging $100,000 of merchandise on her credit card.

“I lost so much sleep,” Schneider said.

“I’m ordering Halloween (merchandise) in January. I was, like, ‘holy s***.’”

The ski and snowboard company CEO: ‘An absolute ignorance to manufacturing’

The din of bystanders echoed through the phone as Jen Gurecki talked from the floor of the Boot Tan Fest in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, on Friday morning.

The energy surrounding Gurecki at “the largest ski and snowboard festival on the planet for women” was palpable. The CEO of Reno-based Coalition Snow, however, sounded almost defeated when asked about her thoughts on the ongoing tariff war.

Gurecki’s voice cracked up as she spoke about her company’s uncertain future amid the ongoing roller coaster surrounding the Trump administration’s tariff policy.

Coalition Snow, which describes itself as a women-owned and operated company, contracts with a Japanese manufacturer for its branded skis and snowboards. The Japanese company, however, makes those skis and snowboards in China. That means the products are subject to Trump’s 145% tariffs.

Gurecki described the high tariffs as “insurmountable for a small business.”

It’s one thing to deal with 10% tariffs, which Gurecki says her company experienced from the additional duties levied by the Trump administration during his first term. Even 20% would be doable and can be chalked up to the normal cost of doing business over time, she said.

A tariff of 145%, however, is just “impossible” to deal with.

“With 145% tariffs, we will not have a business,” Gurecki said. “For a company that is trying to make snow sports more inclusive for people, charging $1,200 to $1,300 for a pair of skis is not inclusive.”

“I’m very, very furious that small businesses are being caught up in this,” Gurecki added.

Asked about using a U.S.-based manufacturer instead, Gurecki  pointed out that Coalition Snow has already gone down that path and continues to do so. But even American manufacturers are struggling to stay alive with the high cost of doing business. 

Gurecki also noted that just because you make products in America does not mean you’re exempt from tariffs. A lot of raw materials come from outside the United States.

“We had a manufacturer up in the Pacific Northwest and they went out of business years ago,” Gurecki said.

“We have another manufacturer who makes a few of our models domestically … and I haven’t received an email back from them and I’ve sent them multiple, so that tells you something.”

Gurecki says she does not expect that company to be manufacturing anything at this point.

In addition to the higher costs from tariffs, Gurecki decried the uncertainty that the on-and-off implementation of tariffs is causing for small businesses, which she says has no rhyme or reason. One week you might be looking at 145% tariffs. Then next week it might go down to 20%. Then the week after that, it could very well go up to 200% for whatever reason. 

For businesses, the lack of certainty makes it hard to plan for the future and make the decisions needed to run a company, according to Gurecki.

“There is no consistency in the tariffs,” Gurecki lamented. “How am I supposed to run my business for years and years and years ahead when there’s absolutely no way to even run cash flow?

“The very simple things that we do as business owners to keep our businesses running become impossible when you cannot even understand your pricing,” Gurecki said. “The whole thing is just incredibly misguided and signals an absolute ignorance to manufacturing.”

For now, Coalition Snow’s stock of skis and snowboards is set for the next few months. By the fall, however, the company will need to deal with a potential sticky situation if tariffs of 145% or even higher are in effect.

“I’m already in production, so I’ve already put all my money into my manufacturing,” Gurecki said. “I won't receive goods until September, so I have until September to figure this out.”

The real estate developer: ‘This wasn’t the mandate’

Uncertainty is also haunting one large sector for Northern Nevada that heavily relies on several countries that have become a target of Trump’s tariff ire  — real estate.

What happens to real estate developers doesn’t just stay with real estate developers, either. Any costs resulting from tariffs and the uncertainty that surrounds them ultimately get passed on to clients and consumers, said Kyle Rea, chief operating officer for Tolles Development. The company develops and supports big logistics warehouses and is also a landlord for smaller retail centers and office buildings.

“If significant tariffs do come to pass, particularly on Canada, Mexico and China, those are really the ones that we’re worried about,” Rea said. “Some significant portions of the buildings that we build in that world, they’re bound to experience significant inflation in those building costs, which raises rents.”

The tariff debate is already making its mark within the Reno-Tahoe real estate industry and related sectors such as warehousing and logistics.

In just the last couple of days, several large customers decided to pause their search for space, citing the tariffs and economic uncertainty coming out of Washington, according to Rea. Such a pause has a negative impact that ripples across the market and affects multiple livelihoods, he added.

“You've got developers, brokers, contractors, all the way down to janitors and custodians that help keep those spaces clean,” Rea said. “That’s been the immediate impact that we've seen.”

The intensity of the tariffs have also blindsided many members of not just the real estate industry but the business community in general, which “definitely leans Republican,” according to Rea.

Dealing with the uncertainty of the presidential election is one thing, which businesses and companies are accustomed to. Once a candidate wins, however, the uncertainty usually goes away, regardless if the victor is a Democrat or Republican.

“It felt like, over the last few months, the business community had some certainty on ‘OK, we are now living in a Republican administration. We know the playbook here. We know what our costs are going to be. We know the kind of financing and interest rate environment we're going to be in,’” Rea said.

“And in the matter of a few days, that’s been completely upended with a once-in-a-generation trade war, potentially.”

The surprise is evident among Rea’s colleagues and clients in the commercial real estate sector. Although they agree with most of the president’s business policies, they didn’t think Trump’s tariff talk during the campaign would amount to sweeping tariffs of this magnitude.

“There’s a sense of, ‘This wasn’t the mandate’ and ‘This wasn’t what we thought we were getting.’” Rea said.

“This is … about an unprovoked trade war that was not really highly discussed during the election.”

Although it’s easy to disregard some of the concerns raised about tariffs and their impact on the economy as “overhyped” and “hyperbolic doomsday prophecies,” doing so would be a mistake, according to Rea.

Rea noted that some of the issues being seen now mirror what the world saw during the COVID-19 pandemic, which took time to ripple through the economy. Ultimately, those same signs led to inflation and massive sell-offs and order cancellations that wreaked havoc on the global supply chain — issues that the world continues to deal with today.

“It takes time for decisions at the highest level of financing to ripple through the rest of the economy, and so what today looks like an order cancellation for, say, a massive steel order to build a warehouse out in Storey County, that doesn’t sound like something that’s going to affect my life, but in 12 months, those eggs aren’t getting any cheaper” Rea said.

“We thought we were getting an administration that was going to focus on lower prices but the opposite is happening.”

The candy man: ‘This is just the way we can negotiate’

Longtime entrepreneur Joe Dutra is no stranger to the impact of tariffs.

Although the founder of Reno-based Kimmie Candy manufactures his snacks in the United States, he still has to import ingredients such as chocolate plus machines and packaging materials from overseas.

Sourcing chocolate has been especially bitter for Dutra thanks to huge price spikes that hit the industry even before Trump’s tariffs. Dutra has been able to blunt some of the impact of higher pricing by setting up contracts in advance. Moving forward, however, Dutra is bracing for another spike in costs.

“A metric ton of cocoa beans out of the Ivory Coast was $12,000 and, for probably the last 15 years, it’s been between $2,500 and $4,500,” Dutra said. “The pricing I'm getting now is probably 60% higher than last year.”

While Dutra has previously voiced his opposition against higher tariffs, penning an opinion piece for the National Federation of Independent Business opposing them, he also thinks that Trump’s tariffs might help U.S candy makers such as himself against foreign competition. 

Sugar, for example, is much more expensive in the United States than Canada, so the tariffs could help close the cost gap seen between candy makers in both countries. The tariffs could also force overseas markets to open up more, Dutra added. 

“It’s hard to sell our candy even into Europe because they do have some restrictions and some tariffs,” Dutra said. “This is just the way we can negotiate.”

A spokesperson for the NFIB reached out to the Reno Gazette Journal on Monday to say that the organization has not taken a position on tariffs.

Although Dutra sources as much material as he can domestically, there are some things that he imports from overseas either due to costs or availability.

Dutra’s packaging comes from China, for example, which sells them much cheaper. Kimmie Candy also orders its machines from Korea and China. In fact, Dutra ordered new equipment last year, which proved to be a stroke of luck given the current tariff situation.

“I just bought a quarter of a million dollars’ worth of equipment six months ago,” Dutra said. “So I missed some of that tariff that would have probably affected us.”

Dutra is especially concerned about the impacts that tariffs can have on small businesses, which he also noted in an opinion column he sent to multiple news outlets. 

While large multinational conglomerates have the resources to weather the impact of tariffs, small businesses are a different story. When faced with strong economic headwinds, small businesses are often forced to raise prices or downsize, he said.

“Unlike large corporations, small businesses lack the resources to absorb new costs and regulatory mandates,” Dutra wrote. “They also lack the scale and leverage to quickly pivot to new suppliers.”

At the same time, Dutra feels that the impact of Trump’s tariffs are not as apocalyptic as others have made it out to be. 

Businesses, for example, still have to go through existing inventory so most don’t have to source items right away. Dutra also believes Trump will resolve the tariff question sooner rather than later.

“A lot of this stuff doesn’t affect you for months,” Dutra told the Reno Gazette Journal. “I don’t think things are going to be like this forever.”

The Junkee lady: ‘I’m a girl just trying to sell junk’

Back at Junkee’s storage room, Schneider breathed a sigh of relief.

Although charging $100,000 worth of goods on her credit card to order merchandise way in advance sounds like a risky move, her gamble eventually paid off. With the bulk of her items coming from China, buying early saved her from paying huge tariffs this year.

“I thought, ‘Well, I need this stuff anyways,’” Schneider said. “Halloween’s still going to happen and Burning Man is still going to happen.”

Schneider says she understands that sourcing her clothes and items from China might get her flak from some circles.

Schneider, however, contends that she really has no choice. The United States hasn’t exactly been a manufacturing powerhouse for stockings, wigs and booty shorts in a long time.

“None of that is made in America. None of it,” Schneider said.

“Even if I was this diehard, buy-American-only person, I can’t do that for a costume shop. It’s impossible.”

The numbers support Schneider’s statement. Only 3% of clothing and 2% of the shoes sold in the United States are made in America, according to the American Apparel & Footwear Association.

One large reason is the cost of labor. It is much cheaper to make clothes overseas and import them to the United States, especially with the advent of globalization.

Even with her fortuitous foresight, Schneider did not expect that Trump “was going to be this aggressive” with tariffs. At the same time, the small business owner added that she does not want to get political at all about tariffs, particularly given how polarized the country has become.

“I don’t know the history of when they stopped making fishnet stockings in America,”

Schneider said. “We had TVs made in America, and then all of a sudden we don’t have TVs made here, but I don’t know the history of that.”

“I do not know why Trump's doing what he’s doing,” Schneider added. “I’m a girl just trying to sell junk.”

— This story was updated to add comment from the National Federation of Independent Business.