High costs, uncertainty among local impacts of Trump tariffs

In 2024, after a career in China spanning writing, acting, a State Department role and a stint in the startup world, Elyse Ribbons began considering a move back to her home country.

She chose Lansing as her new home because Old Town’s zoning allowed her to live out a dream: Opening a Chinese-style teahouse in the U.S., serving the teas she had come to love during the decades she spent in China, while living upstairs.

But in February of 2025, just a few weeks before she opened the doors to Chengdu Teahouse, a few calls threw everything into disarray.

“The tariff stuff had already started,” Ribbons said, “and I had all three of the tea distributors that I had made deals with contact me and say they weren’t going to ship to America until this was dealt with, because nobody knew who was supposed to pay these tariffs.”

President Donald Trump has dramatically escalated U.S. tariff policy in his second administration. It began with 25% tariffs on most goods from Mexico and Canada, and 10% on goods from China, on Feb. 1. In April, he declared sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs, which triggered a stock market crash and were eventually delayed. Tariff policy has changed several times since.

Operating the teahouse has been a whirlwind, Ribbons said. She only sells certain teas in-house, because she can’t afford to order more. And crucially, an entire part of her original business plan — to get fresh, well-sourced Chinese teas on the shelves of American stores, which she said currently sell only stale, low-quality teas — fell apart entirely.

“It was, emotionally, very disheartening,” Ribbons said. “I made all this effort to create these business ties in China to give normal Americans access to high-quality Chinese tea.”

Instead, she’s now working with tribal organizations to help introduce Native American-owned brands to Chinese markets. That market is more reasonable, she said, because Chinese grocery prices are holding stable and, in some cases, have actually gone down in recent months. That’s because, when the U.S. imposed 50% tariffs on most Brazilian goods, Chinese importers seized on that market.

That tariff was around for fewer than four months, but David Ortega, the Noel W. Stuckman Chair in Food Economics and Policy at Michigan State University, said changes in relationships along the supply chain can keep prices high even after policy changes.

“Tariffs, by definition, are a tax on imports,” he said. “But the amount of uncertainty is costly in itself because companies are having to come up with alternate sourcing strategies. There are relationships that are impacted. Some of our suppliers have turned to other markets, and that all translates into higher costs for consumers here in Michigan.”

Trying to isolate how much of a price increase is due to a tariff is difficult; the supply chain impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are still affecting grocery prices. But in Michigan, Ortega said, higher prices on foods imported year-round, or during the winter, indicate a price increase due to tariffs. Bananas, for example, have gone up by 6% since 2025.

Steve Japinga, the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce’s senior vice president, said active tracking and surveying of tariff impacts during the second Trump administration indicated the impacts “have probably touched every single business, and then every single business industry.”

Japinga said the uncertainty of continued tariff policy shifts delayed businesses in several ways, such as hiring, capital investments and expansion plans. Tariffs on Canada have also impacted Michigan businesses, because many area businesses trade with Canada.

A major impact on Michigan has been the cost of steel and other construction materials. Tariffs on imported steel have led to decreased importing, giving domestic producers more ability to increase prices.

Last year, those increased prices led the Ovation Center for Music and Arts, which is in the works downtown, to retrench its design. A new, stripped-back design removed a cantilever roof and diagonal walls that would have required steel to be cut to custom lengths onsite.

“We were literally being told that — our bidders were upfront with us — these numbers are because of the uncertainty around tariffs, right?” Cochran told City Council members on Monday. “They had to pad their numbers. They’re like, ‘It probably won’t be this expensive, but we can’t take that and push go.’”

After shaving around $3 million off the project, the Ovation Center’s steel prices have been bid and accepted, Cochran told City Pulse, meaning future changes won’t affect the budget.

Another major impact of tariffs has been on the auto industry. Tariffs have been levied not just on imported cars (25%), but on parts used on cars, at different rates.

The effect on Lansing’s General Motors plants is hard to quantify, with a GM representative declining to comment on specific Lansing challenges.

Democratic Oakland County Congresswoman Haley Stevens has been a proponent of vehicle tariffs in the past, even introducing the “No Chinese Cars Act” last year that would expand existing tariffs on Chinese vehicles to combat what she argues are unfair Chinese trade practices.

She said the impact on Michigan auto plants is likely to be negative.

“What goes into that plant are thousands of suppliers, producing and sourcing and making, you know, across Michigan and across the country,” she said. “Their bottom line is being squeezed, and then that’s coming down on the consumer.

“Businesses have to totally rework. So General Motors slows down as a result. Their price configurations change. Who they’re putting on the line may change as a result.”

In a statement, Charlotte Republican Tom Barrett, who represents the Lansing area in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, called the tariffs a useful tool to counteract what he called unfair trade restrictions and to bring other nations to the negotiating table.

“My focus in Congress continues to be supporting workers, encouraging job creation, and lowering costs, and I’m hopeful the trade deals the Trump administration negotiates will deliver on these critical goals,” he said.

During Ribbons’ time with the State Department, she got to watch some tariff negotiations of her own, at a time “when setting tariffs was still between two nations thinking about things,” rather than sudden social media proclaimations.

She said the impact of Trump’s tariffs has been to reduce reliance on U.S. trade for many other countries, something she expects to have far-reaching impacts, not just on her tea business but on everyday people.

“Everyone who’s buying groceries,” she said, “we’re going to be paying for these stupid decisions for a long time to come.”

—  LEO V. KAPLAN