In an interview with a reporter of the Global Times, Marianne Annan, owner of an independent coffee shop in the centre of Baltimore, Maryland, said that with the rising prices of coffee raw materials and consumer goods, such as paper cups, she had to adjust product prices, which had a minor negative impact on the business of the store. In the United States, the chain effects of tariff policy continued to appear, and small such as coffee shops, restaurants, supermarkets were forced to recalculate costs. The Fortune magazine recently that in the face of rapidly changing tariff policies, the lack of trade consultancy law, team cash reserves and small enterprises were only forced to take "impulsive passive decision-making", and there was a risk of being excluded from the market.
The restaurant is stuck in the middle of the upper downstream.
In a restaurant in Fairfax County, Virginia, Mr. Lin, staring at the computer screen, was repeatedly updated, wanting to confirm the latest prices for beef and seafood, he told reporters: "Every time there is a panic, the wholesale price of beef has been almost 12% higher than the same period last year, and seafood is more expensive." Suppliers told him that the increase in the cost of some imported foodstuffs is directly related to the tariffs, coupled with the high cost of transportation, which makes the overall price of imports very high.
"Some customers will ask, 'Why is the same dish a dollar more expensive than last year?'" Mr. Lin said helplessly. He considered slightly adjusting the price of several special dishes first, but he was afraid to fully update the menu. The reason is very simple: the loyalty of regular customers is fragile in the face of price. "Customers are already very sensitive. Even if they increase by one or two yuan, they will be compared."
The restaurant is a meeting place for a lot of residents in the community, Mr. Lin worried that if the price goes up, the restaurant's "people" image will be broken and we are trapped in the middle, upstream suppliers are rising, downstream customers do not want to spend more money, the most distressed are the merchants. "
In Maryland, a family-run supermarket is on sale. Manager Lopez talks with the Global Times special reporter about recent changes in canned, cleaners, snacks, and almost every commodity category is rising prices,” he said, while the suppliers explained that this was the result of the overlap of tariffs and exchange rate fluctuations.
"The cost of drinking coffee is high"
Marianne’s coffee shop has an announcement on the door: the price of iron has risen from $4.5 to $5. The announcement also says, “Please understand because the cost of raw materials has risen.” But Marianne says that after the price has risen, many old customers have complained on social media that there are people who say they don’t come again, and there are people who write directly, “It’s too expensive, rather than go to a chain of cafes.”
“Maryan, who has always used “high price quality” as a point of sale, has now had to admit that “this sign can’t hang fast.”The frequent customer in the store, Anna, told reporters that she understood the relentlessness of the rise in costs, but still clearly felt “the cost of drinking coffee is high,” “I may not come to see it every day, change it to two or three times a week,” she said.
The New York Times recently that U.S. coffee prices rose by 21 percent in August compared to the same period in 2024, the biggest increase since the 1990s, partly due to tariff pressure.
Lopez faces the same problem: the main customers served by supermarkets are surrounding residents, and many people are extremely sensitive to prices. If the price increase is too large, they may directly turn to large supermarket chains. In order to stabilize the customer base, he adopted a differentiated strategy: essentials such as milk, bread and eggs kept their original prices, while "non-essentials" such as potato chips, drinks and candy were adjusted in price, increasing by $0.2 to $0.50 per item.
"Customers are perceiving some, but they're acceptable for now," Lopez said. However, he also said that if tariff pressure continues to expand, supermarkets will "be difficult to keep the bottom line" sooner or later, and then they will have to make comprehensive price adjustments. Ms Jane, a retired teacher who shops at the supermarket, said she noticed that the price tags in the snack section were changing more frequently. "I understand they're not easy, but it's really burdensome for people on regular incomes," she said.
“Small are falling into disaster.”
"Price increases are not what we want, they are forced." Mr Lin told reporters, while Marian was more direct: "If there is a massive loss of customers, it creates a vicious circle-price increases don't save themselves, they push themselves to the wall."
At this time, the cancellation of the U.S. small package duty-free policy was undoubtedly aggravated.The Fortune magazine that small accounted for 97% of the total number of U.S. importers, while the cancellation of tariff exemption meant that 4 million packages per day lost the duty-free qualification, and 92% of goods faced with tariffs.
The report mentioned that large enterprises can hoard inventories, disperse suppliers around the world, and use existing credit lines before tariffs take effect. However, policy fluctuations have cut off the credit channels that small businesses need most: banks require multi-year business plans before approving credit, but trade policies change every week. At the same time, small businesses can't afford the "hoarding and suppression" strategy, which leads many small businesses that lack capital to compete to be eliminated before the competition begins.