Trump's continued steep tariffs on China to impact small businesses, consumers in Chicago

CHICAGO (WLS) -- From toys to beauty products, President Donald Trump's steep tariffs on goods from China could hit the wallets of people in the Chicago area.

Local business owners are speaking out about how much that will cost both the companies and consumers.

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President Trump's 90-day pause on tariffs for most countries is welcome news for a lot of these small businesses, but the tariffs that remain on China will still bring hurdles along the way.

Brushes, nail products, hair products are part of the beauty products that are now facing price increases because of those tariffs on China.

Small businesses across Chicago are still grappling with the evolving news around President Trump's tariff plan. The President announce the 90-day pause on Wednesday, which means the 10% reciprocal tariffs on just about every country will not go into effect.

That still leaves the trade war with China, as President Trump is keeping the 125% tariff in place there, and it's expected to drive up costs on imported goods like electronics, beauty supplies and toys.

"My prediction is it'll be short-lived," Bravco Beauty owner Michael Gordon said. "Like the stock market raises and lowers this will all pass and things will go back to how they were."

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Gordon runs the business on the Near North Side. It's a family business that's been around for 50 years.

Despite the expected rising cost on many of his imported products, Gordon said he won't make customers pay the price.

"That was always my dad's motto, 'the customer comes first,' so our prices will remain the same and we'll just have to take a little bit of a hit for a while," Gordon said.

Some other small businesses simply can't afford to do that.

Ann Kienzle is opening up her fifth PLAY toy store in Chicago. The latest one is set to open Saturday in Hyde Park. However, with so much of her inventory imported from China, she said she'll be left with no choice but to raise her prices.

"I'd say 80-90% of toys are made in China at this point, so 125% tariff is inevitably going to be passed on, there's just no question," Kienzle said.

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According to analysis from Yale's Budget Lab, Trump's latest tariffs will cost middle-class households $4,700 per year.

The small business owners know that could affect their own sales, but they're hoping it won't last long while urging people to keep shopping local.

"Shop small... support your local businesses that feed back into your community, and without our community's help, we would've never made it through COVID, and we won't make it through this either," Kienzle said.

Bravco is at least one business that will continue to eat that cost and not push it onto the customer.

ABC7 is hearing that from a lot of small businesses trying to hang on and see how long this plays out.