The owner of an independent toy shop is closing her business in Portland, Oregon, at the end of this month, due to the continued impact and uncertainty surrounding Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariffs.
“It’s just impossible,” Caroline Rodrigues, 41, owner of the Merci Milo toy shop, told The Independent. “We really want this business to work out. We really, really are trying.”
Rodrigues and her husband founded the small business, which is named for their daughter, in 2015 in Los Angeles, expanding to Portland in 2021.
Rodrigues is from a family of small business owners, and grew up working in her family’s stores in the L.A. area. Now that she has a business of her own, she makes a point to stock artisanal goods from small makers around the world, as well as a selection of inclusive toys and books.
In the last few years, the business has weathered Covid and record inflation, all of which put a dent in sales and caused many similar businesses to shut down.
But in recent weeks, things took a turn for Merci Milo. Rodrigues started getting high tariff bills — $350 in charges on a $350 shipment of dolls from China; $150 in tariffs on a $500 package of art supplies from Japan — that made the economics of her Portland store no longer workable.
“We were already struggling and trying to recover from the last two years, and then we got hit with these tariffs,” she said.
They plan to keep their Los Angeles store for now and continue paying their two Portland employees to work in the brand’s warehouse, but the future looks decidedly unknown.
“Everybody’s closing,” Rodrigues said. “It feels kind of apocalyptic in some was. Every week there’s somebody new closing.”
Rodrigues said it would be a tragedy if small businesses nationwide suffer a similar fate. She loves her customers and their kids, and has used her stores as a community rallying point, donating to local schools and nonprofits, and massing supplies and toy donations during the recent L.A. wildfires in January.
“No one is going to do that for you except a small business that truly cares about the people,” she said. “They truly care about their own neighborhood and their own communities.”
Nationwide, the administration’s tariffs remain in a state of flux.
The U.S. and China agreed last month to a 90-day tariff reduction while the countries seek a larger agreement, and on Thursday, President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke about the ongoing conditions.
“I just concluded a very good phone call with President Xi, of China, discussing some of the intricacies of our recently made, and agreed to, Trade Deal,” Trump wrote on Truth Social of the call. “The call lasted approximately one and a half hours, and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries. There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of Rare Earth products.”
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum rose to 50 percent on Wednesday, though the UK has been made temporarily exempt from the increase.
U.S. courts are currently considering challenges alleging that Trump didn’t have the authority to impose the emergency tariffs.
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