Tariffs Bite into Small Profits: New York Smartphone Sellers Left Behind

By Muyang Cao

NEW YORK — Phone accessory sellers in New York say tariffs on Chinese imports are raising costs and squeezing margins, even as President Donald Trump’s administration spares some major electronics from new levies.

Shubon, who has run his phone accessory shop in Manhattan for five years, said vendors now charge more because of tariffs, leaving his store with smaller profits.

“Like this screen protector, it was $7 or $8 before. Now it’s $9 or $10,” he said, sliding one across the counter. “But I don’t increase the price. If I do, customers won’t buy.”

For small business owners like Shubon, the Trump administration’s selective tariff exemptions have created an imbalance. In April, the White House excluded high-value goods such as smartphones, laptops, and semiconductors from new import duties, shielding products like iPhones from tariffs that had climbed as high as 125%. But lower-priced items such as cases, chargers, and protectors were left exposed, often facing duties of 60% or more.

Then earlier in October, Trump threatened to slap another 100% tariff on Chinese products starting on Nov. 1, on top of a current rate of about 50%.

While multinational companies have the lobbying power to negotiate and minimize the influence of the tariffs, small businesses “are not really factoring into the administration’s decisions,” according to Inu Manak, senior fellow for international trade at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Larger companies are either able to get exemptions by going straight to the president — or they stay quiet out of fear of retaliation,” she said.

That disparity is playing out across New York City’s small phone shops. Amir, who has operated a tech store in Manhattan since 2008, said wholesale prices on many accessories have jumped 10 to 20 percent just this year. “This is the hardest time since I opened,” he said.

Most small retailers do not import directly. Instead, they rely on local wholesalers like Double Dragon Digitalmates Inc., which sources its goods from Shenzhen and Guangzhou — China’s electronics manufacturing hubs. “Before, tariffs were around 20% to 30%,” said the owner. “Now they’re 55% to 65%, even after reductions. If it were still 125%, like earlier this year, we couldn’t survive.”

But adjusting prices isn’t always straightforward. Retailers and wholesalers often wait and watch before making decisions.

“Businesses are making long-term decisions,” Manak said. “But if tariffs change every few weeks — from 25% to 50% to 100% — it disrupts sourcing, budgeting, and planning. For small and mid-sized businesses that don’t have 10 lawyers looking at these things for them or outsourcing that work to somebody else,” Manak pointed out, they’re caught between shrinking margins and uncertain policy.

The pressure is felt abroad as well. Ken Lin, an accessory exporter in Shenzhen, said the trade climate has cooled. “Someone I know can’t ship goods out anymore,” he said. “People selling on Amazon to the U.S. and Europe keep complaining — it’s just really tough these days.” He added, “We don’t understand politics, but maybe they’re just doing it for their own country’s development.”

From the job market side, the tariffs could also be cause complications. A recent report from the Joint Economic Committee – Minority found that 25,000 jobs in goods-producing sectors were lost in August following the latest round of tariffs.