With new tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China set to take effect, local business owners worry it could mean higher price tags in San Diego. NBC 7’s Dana Williams reports.
The White House press secretary confirmed during a briefing on Friday that President Donald Trump planned to implement tariffs on imported goods to the United States from Canada, Mexico and China.
The president mentioned the tariffs several times over the past few weeks and said that it would be 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada and 10% on China.
“I didn’t think it would happen,” Max Paul told NBC 7. “It’s an added stress for everyone.”
Paul and his longtime friend, Rene Morales, are the co-owners of M & P Iron Works and Fencing based out of San Diego. Their business has been around for seven years, but Morales has been in the iron work industry for about a decade longer.
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“It’s very stressful,” Morales said to NBC 7, in response to the potential tariffs that could be placed on imported items. “We are a very small company. It’s just us.”
Morales explained that an estimated 80% of their gates, fences, doors, window coverings and more are manufactured in Mexico.
“Our business is very competitive in San Diego. There’s over 100 shops that do what we do,” he said. “We stay competitive because we manufacture in Mexico. Otherwise, if we had to have an actual shop and pay rent and pay eight or nine employees, we’d be out of it.”
Morales and Paul are concerned for when and if those tariffs on imported goods from Mexico begin because of the impact it will have on their operating costs and, ultimately, their customers.
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“If we have to add 25%, if we don’t pass it down to the client, that means we are going to have to absorb it, which we can’t,” Paul said.
“Customers are shocked at the prices we have right now, with the labor and the wages here, you know. Maybe the last time they changed the fence was 20-30 years ago,” Morales said, while sharing that galvanized iron fencing around a home that cost $3,500 would be closer to $9,000 now.
It is a waiting game with their livelihoods in flux, both Morales and Paul said, since there are very little details about how the tariffs will be implemented.
“It is definitely scary to not know exactly what’s happening,” Paul said.
“At the end of the day, any fluctuation is going to affect us and the customers,” Morales added. “I just hope it doesn’t kill us in a business sense.”
