How my British tech firm could be a big ‘Liberation Day’ loser

My Manchester-based business making editing equipment was hit hard when Donald Trump introduced tariffs on China – another round will cost me dearly, says Mark Brown

As the owner of a small tech company based in Manchester, I am used to taking an agile approach to things. You have to adapt in order to thrive. But it is increasingly difficult to predict the ways in which the president of the United States is going to affect my business.

The pace at which Donald Trump chops and changes his mind – as well as the amounts he has threatened to slap on imported goods – is enough to give anyone whiplash.

In February, Trump imposed a 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports. A few days later, he changed his mind and increased the levy to 20 per cent, this time excluding low-cost items (under $800/£620) – a threshold, for now, we largely sit below.

My company, Editors Keys, supplies creatives – influencers, podcasters and the like – with high-quality kit: slimline keyboards and recording equipment for video editing and sound production.

Even before Trump’s “Liberation Day”, when the president is expected to impose dollar-for-dollar tariffs on goods imported into the US, he has already done damage to my business.

My company, Editors Keys, provides creatives with high-quality kit (Mark Brown)

My US-based customers – who account for roughly 50 per cent of our business – were confused and upset as to why they would now have to pay hefty levies on top of existing shipping fees and other duties. Why should they foot the bill for tariffs posed on America’s trade partners? Indeed…

Some have asked for refunds; others have cancelled future orders that we had already begun processing. Most have – begrudgingly – paid the price to receive their orders.

This isn’t a market I can easily afford to alienate. But with yet more charges being threatened by the US president in the coming days, it’s the reality we face – and it could end up costing us thousands.

The designs for our products are completed in the UK and are then given to a factory in China. Once manufactured, the goods are then customised and hand-finished in Denmark before being shipped to the UK and out to various locations around the world. There simply aren’t any factories of this kind in the UK, Europe or even the US that could make our products – there’s no other way around it.

So what are the solutions? We’ve looked into absorbing at least some of these costs for our US customers, but that doesn’t leave us with a sustainable profit margin. We’ve also looked at increasing the price point of the product to offset some of the losses, but the issue still stands in that the customer will be forced to pay more.

Our most popular products are our keyboards (Mark Brown)

We are somewhat lucky in that our only real competitor is also based in Europe – there is no US equivalent. But that doesn’t necessarily provide reassurance. Whether completing individual or bulk orders, there’s still an implied risk now – some customers may pull out altogether.

Now, of course this will impact small businesses in the UK and beyond. So, too, will it impact global markets and economies – it already is. But the real issue that many are overlooking is the impact it will have on US citizens, who are (quite literally) paying the price for the president’s sanctions. In his bid to revitalise American industry by stopping the US from getting “ripped off”, he is failing to tell the American public that they will be the ones picking up the bill.

This new system also stifles innovation and entrepreneurial spirit. It’s one thing to target huge companies, but the world is made up of thousands and thousands of smaller, niche companies that provide services and products you won’t be able to find in the US. They simply won’t be able to function in this environment, and customers will miss out as a result. And even if we wanted to work with a US reseller, that’s all but impossible now.

The full effects of Trump’s tariffs have yet to be felt – indeed, we still don’t know exactly what he’s planning to announce on “Liberation Day”. But what we can predict is higher costs all round, prolonged shipping processes and a far less diverse market.

Mark Brown is the owner and founder of Editors Keys