And, I’m Talking To You About Tariffs

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Just save Wild 94.9 and the JV Show podcast as your top iHeartRadio preset. So the International Monetary Fund just announced that California is the fourth largest economy in the world.
Only Germany and China and the United States have a larger economic output than the state of California. That's the good news.
The bad news is there's no state in America that is more impacted by uncertainty and these tariffs imposed unilaterally by Donald Trump and the Trump administration. The impacts of that, of course, are felt small businesses, medium-sized, large businesses, consumers, as well as supply chains, not just in our state, but all across this country and around the world.
So today we'll be exploring the impacts, real-life impacts on real people, impacts in states large and small from Montana to Minnesota to here in the great state of California. Tune in to this live program on the impacts of Donald Trump's tariffs in America.
This is Gavin Newsom. Let's talk tariffs.
Hey, Beth. I am trying to get my phone turned off.
I just got this phone. I don't know if I'm going to do it.
What is it, Android or an iPhone? It's an iPhone, but it's the new one. You're good.
It's smart to buy it now and not in a few months when it's twice the price. It won't be twice the price.
They're exempt from tariffs. That's right.
Because they made a phone call. Crony capitalism, Beth.
That's a whole other conversation. Beth, thanks for joining us.
You're in Minnesota. Where are you exactly in Minnesota? I am in Southeast Minnesota, Zumbroda, 50 minutes south of the Twin Cities.
And tell us a little bit about your business and when you started it and the impacts of these tariffs. Yeah, I started my business eight years ago, right after my son was born.
I had an idea for a baby product that solves a problem all new parents have of babies just dropping and throwing all their stuff. I made what I now know to be a prototype for myself and one of my friends who had a baby and she forgot it and said, you should make this thing for real because I didn't realize how awful it was until I didn't have your mat thingy.
So I invented the Busy Baby mat. It's just a silicone placemat that suctions to the high chair and has tethers that you can use to attach babies things.
Since that time, eight years ago, I was able to go on Shark Tank and show the world my invention. And from that, I was able to tell my brother to quit his job and join me in the business.
And the two of us have expanded the product line now to eight products that all have the same mission, keep babies things within reach off the ground at home and on the go. I love it.
And you source your products from where? Where do you get the materials? Where do you get most of your supply? Yeah, we are 100% in China. 100%.
And did you look around? I mean, was it China first or it's just where it's sort of the dominant manufacturing occurs? No, we actually tried for a year and a half to manufacture in the U.S. And there's a lot of obstacles to that.
One is the raw material is not sourced in the U.S., so that has to be imported. We learned this morning, we've been continuing to find ways to manufacture in the U.S.
and had a great meeting this morning with a silicone manufacturer here in New York. And we're still learning more.
It's still not viable for us. However, we're continuing to try.

But the main obstacle is when you have a startup, when you are brand new, we're not making 20,000 units.

We're not making 200,000 units or many companies a million units.

I was trying to get 2,000 units because this was a product that never existed before.

I didn't even know if people were going to buy this item.

I knew it was a good idea, but I didn't know if my fellow Americans would think it was a good idea. So there were no American factories that were willing and able to do this project on such a small scale to start.
So we did have to start in China. They were willing to do that with us.
And so the impacts are immediate, the 145% tariffs. I mean, what does that mean? I mean, is there sort of a dollar figure? Do you recall the first invoice purchase order came back and looked at that delta? And how did you respond? You know, it's more immediate than that.
I could literally lose my home in less than three months. So I'll walk you through that real quick.
This last six months has been

amazing for us. I got a contract with Walmart.
I got a contract with Target. We're in both stores now.
Minnesota awarded me SBA, Small Business Person of the Year. It's been a really sunshiny last six months.
I booked my flight with my eight-year-old son to take him to DC to get this award on May 5th. And then nine days later, as my products were two days shy of being picked up to put on a container to come to the US, these tariffs came out.
The announcement came out. So what I was expecting to pay $20,000, maybe $30,000 worth of tariffs, that's what I budgeted for, now is going to cost me $230,000 to bring into our country.
I have maybe two months worth of inventory left in my warehouse here. And when that is gone, I have no more revenue.
I have no money coming in to pay my employees. I have no money coming in to pay my bills.
The other American businesses that I support through my company, my marketing teams, my bookkeeping, my accounting, everyone who helps me run this

business. the other American businesses that I support through my company, my marketing teams, my bookkeeping, my accounting, everyone who helps me run this business, all American companies, my transportation team that was going to bring that container to me.
I can't pay any of them anymore. And the worst thing is I can't pay my loan.
And when I got the contracts for Target and Walmart, I took a big business risk. And a lot of us small businesses do this.
I leveraged my home to be able to buy the inventory to support these contracts because that was the next big milestone step in our business. And now I am at grave danger of not being able to get my products here, not being able to continue to sell and have the cash flow that I've counted on and not be able to pay on those loans, which means I could lose my house where my children live and my ability to keep them safe and feed them.
That's how real this is for me in this moment. So Beth, I mean, boy, I mean, you paint the ultimate

picture. I mean, just the deep reality and, you know, and the fact that it was because of your kids that inspired this business in the first place.
And now your home is at risk. Everything about that is an extraordinary picture of the pain and anxiety that you're going through.
I mean, and forgive me, I mean, the options for you are what then right now?

Do you call Walmart back in Target and you say, can you help? Is there a strategy there? So they float, you know, 90 day invoices or something. I mean, is there a strategy that you can see an alternative if this continues? Right now with those retailers, I actually have their inventory here.
That's why I had to take that big risk early on was you have to order the products in bulk so that I have them here. So every week when they place their order, I have something to send them.
So currently their product is here that should support us six months with those retailers. I did have the opportunity to expand.
Walmart wanted to take on another product this year in November. I had to call my buyer and say, I don't know if I can do that right now.
As of right now, I cannot add another item. I cannot expand.
And because of the situation we're in, if I can't get my products here, I'm going to have to just sell the products that I have set aside for Target and Walmart just to get some revenue in the door to keep paying my employees. So Walmart's been great.
They have offered to, you know, let's just see how this goes. We'll be patient.
You know, they're not going to push the timelines that normally they're very strict to with suppliers. Let's just kind of see how this goes for a little bit.
And, you know, they kind of said, we got you. We'll figure it out.
So what did you and I'm curious, just, you know, and I don't mean this to be political, and it's but but when Trump was elected, he talked about these tariffs on China, obviously, his first first term, he advanced tariffs on China. So you must have anticipated something.
But did this come as a complete shock how quickly this happened, the level of the tariff, meaning how large it was? Give me a sense of how you prepared a little bit over the course last few months. Yeah.
Prior to this administration, we didn't pay a tariff ever. In my eight years in business, we've never paid a tariff.
We pay taxes, we pay duty. We've never paid a tariff for baby items.
When the administration came in, knowing that they had talked about bringing in tariffs, we expected a reasonable tariff, 20 to maybe 30%. And we looked at our numbers and decided we can support that.
It's going to be tough, but we can stay alive and support that. We budgeted for that.
We did not budget for 145%. No, I mean, no one can.
No one can. Well, Beth, I can't impress upon you how grateful I am that you had the courage to come on the show.
And thank you for showing up, and not just for yourself and your family, for your eight-year-old and your brother and your employees, but for others in your circumstance and your position. I think all of us out here in California, we're not only rooting for you, we have your back.
We initiated a lawsuit to push back against the Trump administration. I mean, even on the conservative side, the Koch brothers are aligned in that as it relates to how this unilateral action by Donald Trump is simply illegal.
And so we're asserting ourselves very aggressively in that space so you can get some clarity. But I'm curious, just as you look out over the course of the next days and weeks with all that anxiety and your house looming over this conversation, I mean, you got a week or how many weeks, how many months do you think you can hold on with this level of uncertainty before you just have to make a real decision that may be sort of closing up shop, so to speak? There's no closing up shop for me.
I am a 10-year Army veteran. I am not a quitter.
I am one who adapts and overcomes. We've got about two weeks until we need to make critical decisions where we now out, we'd sell to sell to other countries.
We, babies are everywhere. We've lined up some distribution in Australia, in Dubai, in South Korea and Canada, that if, if we don't have a resolution in two weeks where we can bring our products to the U S and sell to our fellow Americans, then we're going to have to, you know, make that decision to sell outside of our country, which is going to be much more difficult for us.
It's all unknown to me. I've had to learn this business from scratch, and now I need to learn international distribution like this.
But I'm up for the challenge if I have to. But what I really need is I need our representatives to stand up for us and stand up for Americans.
In my district, I have a Republican congressman who will not even talk to me. And I was at, I just watched your podcast with my governor that you recently did.
And I was actually at the Capitol this week for Governor Walz's State of the State Address.

And what I saw broke my heart and has me just feeling so depressed because we need our politicians to stand up for Americans.

When Walz was talking about the achievements of our state in the last year, and one of them in Minnesota is free breakfast and free lunch for our students because science has shown well-fed kids have better outcomes. This is a great thing.
One half of the room was standing and clapping. The other half of the room was sitting cross-armed with ugly faces.
And I saw the opposite thing on the president's State of the Union address where one side is clapping and the other side is pouting. And right now we don't need that.
We need our representatives to come together for Americans. We need Americans to come together.
I am feeling so much hate from my fellow Americans who think that because I make my products in China that I am evil and that I deserve to fail. And where we learn things in our lives, you know, my children, I'm trying to teach them kindness.
I'm trying to teach them love. They learn from me.
As an adult, we learn from our bosses and from our leaders. And right now, what we're leading, what we're learning from our politicians is to be divided, to be hardline one way or the other.
And if I'm on this side, I can't possibly celebrate something accomplished on the other side. And now the American people who should be coming together and supporting one another and loving one another.
I had a woman tell me on TikTok that I am going to fail and I deserve it. No one deserves to fail.
No one deserves to lose their house, the roof over their children's home. No one.
And so, you know, I need our politicians to come together and support the Americans and stop fighting each other and work together for the American people. I personally love that in ways you don't even fully perhaps appreciate.
My first three guests on this podcast were all conservatives that were all supporters of Trump. And I made exactly the point you just made.
At the end of the day, we all want to be protected, connected, respected. We can't continue to talk down to each other past one another.
We're all in this together. We're all better off.
We're all better off. So I really appreciate that sentiment.
I appreciate you have no, I'm an entrepreneur. I love, love your entrepreneurial

passion. The fact you're putting everything on the line and putting a human face on this topic

is inspiring. And I ain't worried about you failing.
You got that, you got that gene,

you got that grit that defines the best. So thank you, Beth, for joining us.

Yeah. Thanks for letting me use my voice to stand up for small businesses.

Here, here. We appreciate you.

Hey, Jennifer.

Good morning, Governor.

Where are you? What's that background? I love it.

Oh, fabulous. I'm in my restaurant.
I live and own and operate a restaurant in Crescent City, California, which is up in Del Norte County. I believe you visited last about a year ago up in this region.
I used to go up there as a kid with my father. And one of the great gifts last year is bringing my four kids up there and walking in the same footsteps as I walked as a young child.
There are a few places, anyone listening, there are a few places on planet Earth that are more spectacular than where you operate your restaurant. The absolute physical beauty is extraordinary.
And so I love it up there and I appreciate you're running a restaurant up there, which is in and of itself amazing and remarkable.

And I imagine with all of the uncertainty and announcements, and we just saw some new tourism numbers already coming in that show a decline in tourism across our state, that these tariffs have had an impact on your business. Yes.
So in the area, just so the listeners know where I live, we're up at the very top coastal corner of California, extremely remote, extremely rugged, and rural, of course. And this area is historically economically depressed.
We get injections of money into this area, primarily through tourism. It is one of the driving forces.
Most of the businesses in this entire county get, you know, we have booming summers where our population with tourism increases exponentially. Our town population is only 7,000.
The entire county population is 27,000. I mean, very sparsely populated.
We have a lot of trees and rivers, not a lot of people. And in the summer, in July, our town population can go up to 30,000 with people coming to explore the beaches and so forth.
So those tourism dollars are what keep this local economy going primarily. And every business is affected positively by the influx of tourism.
My demographic, you know, we're a small restaurant. We're right on the beach.
We have incredible local support. Our local community really, they're here for us and we're here for them.
But there just aren't enough people locally to sustain all of our restaurants and hotels and so forth. So that influx in the summer keeps us flowing all year, even though it's only, you know, a part of the year.
And the tourism, you know, we're expecting a 29% decrease in international tourism. In the summertime, Governor, my demographic is between 75% and 90% tourists visiting my restaurant.
And that's not just my restaurant. Those are the numbers I have real tangibility in.
But it's every restaurant in this area. And when we take up to 90% of my cash inflow, decrease it by about 30% due to, and directly because of the tariffs, that's something that, you know, we're having trouble anticipating how we're going to navigate that.
And the other part of that, of course, is cost of goods and services. We run a New Orleans, you see the sign behind me here, New Orleans, Cajun and Creole style restaurant.
So the bulk of my menu, we make everything from scratch. So we're using whole onions, tomatoes, spices, and then a lot of seafood.
And shrimp is expected to go up. We get a farm report forecast from our food distributor.
Shrimp is expected to increase up to 46% directly because of tariffs. Most of my menu, we can expect to go up about 25%.

This is tomatoes, onions, garlic, spices,

just everyday things.

And while we can adjust, of course,

we'll have to increase menu prices

as will every restaurant everywhere.

So we can increase and that feels,

it makes me sad for my local community. But then when we decrease the tourism coming in, it's a double blow and not just a double blow, but has that ripple effect that goes far and wide.
If I speak only to my community, this rural community whose sports teams, you know, Little League and the marching band and different things rely on the local businesses supporting them.

And this economic impact is so far reaching. I'm an eternal optimist.
I'm always someone that figures things out and we look for, you know, solutions. This one is more difficult to see our way through it at this time.
I appreciate it. You said two things that are important.
You talked about community. I mean, community at the end of the day, you it's not something you can manufacture.
It's a sense of pride. It's that connection to, as you say, these organizations and your neighbors where magical moments are created in your restaurant and friends and relationships are formed.
And you're such a big part of that and a vibrant part of that. But you also highlighting something that's often overlooked, and that is tariffs impact tourism.
And people don't necessarily connect that dot as easily as they should or as consequentially as they must. And when you say 29%, was that analysis that was done by your regional chamber? Is that on the basis of what you're already seeing in terms of decline of visitorship that you would otherwise expect this time of year? This time of year, we would start seeing a lot of international tourism.
A lot of people from Europe in particular. Later in the season, we see a lot more Asian tourists coming in.
But, you know, as you said, Redwood National Park, which is here, draws people from all over the world. We have the remaining 1% of old-growth Redwood, and that is really something to see.
So my 29% came from the economic forecast out of the larger chamber anticipation for how that's going to impact. And, you know, in this rural region of the world, I'm speaking to my county specifically, but this whole North Coast is very rural.
And so there's about five counties that all see the same economic impact. And it's this entire Northwest region of California, Humboldt County, Del Norte County, Mendocino County, Lake County, Trinity.
It's a huge portion of the state that is going to feel and reel from the effects of a lack of people wanting to come here directly because of the tariffs. So, Jennifer, you've weathered a lot.
You got through COVID, which is extraordinary. You've got that entrepreneurial energy and as you said yourself, and it's self-evident to anyone listening or watching, you've got that entrepreneurial energy and you said yourself, and it's self-evident to anyone listening or watching, you've got such a spirit of positivity.
I mean, how do you sort of game this out? I mean, what's the strategy for you? Are you looking at potentially layoffs? You can only pass through so much cost. Obviously, on the customer side, if they're not

coming in, the fixed cost could devour even any variable menu prices. What's their strategy? How are you gaming this out in the next few months? Yeah, well, it's a day by day.
Where can we pivot? Where can we pivot? Restaurants historically have I have a very tiny profit margin.

And as a small business, as are most businesses in my community, we don't have the luxury that chains have to be able to absorb some of that impact because of other stores. So how do we navigate that? Of course, you know, increasing as needed.
We don't like to do that, but things happen. Cutting costs wherever we can, cutting labor.
You know, we as owner operators, we work 15 hours a day laboring in our restaurant. And it's a labor of love.
I don't say that with anything except gratitude. But there are only so many hours in the day.
And so looking, you know, it adds more work to the people that we employ.

So the way we're navigating this is looking at other, other ways we can bring money to, to the restaurant. So creating other events, you know, community events, things like that, always looking at what's working and trying to trim what isn't working, really making our menu hyper efficient.
We got our restaurant two days before the COVID shutdowns. And so it was a incredible

experience. working, really making our menu hyper-efficient.
We got our restaurant two days before the COVID shutdowns. And so it was an incredible lesson in business management in a very short time.
And so we've learned to pivot, but that's not always easy when things are changing so rapidly. And as we're gearing up for our summer season, it's really just, really just, again, becoming hyper efficient, hyper educated.
We rely on what's called the farm report forecast so we can look at where we can trim costs, you know, at some point in the day. There's only so much we can do.
And then we just try to ride it out with the support of our, you know, our our community community. Well, I appreciate, and I appreciate what you're doing, how you are representing, not just yourself, but your community and others that are struggling with this new reality as well.
And anyone that gets up to Crescent City, and if you haven't been, you got to go, needs to go to your restaurant. What's the name of the restaurant? This is Schmidt's House of Jambalaya.
We're right on the beach at South Beach. And it's an extraordinary community.
We're very thankful to be part of it. And go up when you're up there and visit and say hello.
Really appreciate you taking the time. Thank you for sharing your insight.
And thank you for staying the course and being so positive. And we're going to work our tail off to try to curtail the impacts of these tariffs and

lack of, I think, understanding of the impacts it's having on people like yourself and communities

all throughout this country, but certainly here in this north part of our state.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you.

And I just want to add, you know, I really feel advocated for.

I appreciate your leadership.

We appreciate your leadership and everything that you're doing as a voice for the people. Thank you so much.
I'm grateful. Thank you for joining us.
Thank you. Bye-bye.
How you doing, Governor? I'm good, man. You're in Chino, California, right? Yeah.
I live in Orange County, California. My company here is in Chino.
We also have a warehouse and location in Amsterdam in Holland.

I love it. And so tell us about your business, the wheelchair business.
So we are in the durable medical equipment business, primarily related to wheelchairs and scooters. we provide

the product for people that are either

permanently or temporarily disabled

including organizations

such as I think I mentioned on my emails, Steve Gleason Foundation. He was an ex-NFL football player for the New Orleans Saints.
So we sell our product. We're a wholesaler, so we wholesale them worldwide.
And we've been doing this for quite some time, about eight years. We're a conservatively growing company.
We typically grow about 200% to 300% per annum. It's a very expensive business.
It's not a business that is for the lighthearted. So it requires quite a bit of capital to operate this kind of company.
And you have to have a passion for it, which is something that myself and all of our

team members, we have a great passion for what we do. And Joseph, how many countries are you exporting to? How many countries are you working with? So because we have a European operation, we can export to Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, the UK, and of course, the Netherlands at the moment.
In America, from here, we export to Canada and parts of Mexico and Puerto Rico, which is still part of us. So what, I mean, so these tariffs are announced.
I imagine you had to anticipate something might happen in this space. Tell me a little bit about that thought process.
When Trump gets elected, he was pretty clear that he was going to move in this direction. Did you expect it as quickly? Did you expect it as acutely? How has it impacted your business and your business plan going forward? Yeah, so wonderful question.
We did have a feeling that this could happen. We didn't expect it to be as drastic as it has.
And the reason for that is based on the fundamental sort of principle that our industry has been exempt from tariffs since we've had the operation. So even though we expected tariffs to apply, we did not expect that they would be applied to our industry, as we've been exempt for all of these years, nor did we expect that if they were going to be applied, that it would be as high as they are.
So probably about eight months prior to this, I had set up a separate company prior to the election of Donald Trump. We had set up a separate company with the idea that we would manufacture our own products within the U.S.
And so we started discussing things with even Chinese partners, Vietnamese partners, Mexico. I went down to Mexico many times to set up a Micheladora down there thinking that might work.
Went to Texas, went to various states. What we realized, Governor, is that one, the cost of operating in America is still extremely expensive, number one.
Number two, securing and obtaining the materials that we require are extremely difficult to find. We might be able to find some metals, some aluminum, but things like carbon fiber, things like lithium-ion batteries, things like technology that goes into our joysticks.
We're sort of a, automated business to a certain extent that relies on technology.

And what we quickly found is that what we required just wasn't available. It wasn't available as we needed it.
And we thought, OK, this is probably something that the United States isn't quite ready for as yet. so when obviously the tariffs

were applied

you know it

drastically affects our ability to trade. I mentioned in my email that we're working with quite a large community that is quite vulnerable, whether it's the geriatric community, which someday, as you know, Governor, we live long enough.

We might all be in a wheelchair or a scooter.

But in addition to that, you know, we deal with like the Gleason Foundation, which has,

you know, their members are, they have ALS.

We work with MS organizations, patients that have Parkinson's, et cetera.

So not only are they in a situation health-wise that is not ideal, but many of these folks just don't have the resources, financial resources to secure the product that we sell. And although we sell our products relatively inexpensively compared to the market, it is still a necessity for them.
And unfortunately, you know, with the tariffs as they currently stand, you know, it becomes almost an impossibility, to be quite honest. You know, I'll give you a real number, a real number is we had ordered sort of a few containers here recently that we expected to pay about $600,000 for.
Well, with the tariffs applied, it's now an additional $830,000 on top of that. So I just want to make that clear.
It's not from $600,000 to $800,000. It's an additional $800,000, more than 100%.
That's correct. That's right.
And that was most of that product coming from China specifically? That's right. Yeah.
That's right. So, you know, it's an additional $830,000.
So our choices are, and in our industry, we, you know, I'm not a, I'm not backed by private equity. I don't have any VCs behind me.
We are, we are operating ourselves. We've grown this company ourselves out of our own resources.
So, you know, the idea of paying an additional $830,000 when we don't know if these tariffs are going to change tomorrow, you know the story. It's been up and down.
Yes, we're going to reduce tariffs. No, we're not.
So it's very unpredictable for myself and other companies in my situation. If we fund that money, you know, obviously we would need to recover it somehow.
And unlike a common belief that the exporting company pays for these things, it's just not true. I mean, the importer, us, we would pay that additional amount.
And then we would have the decision to make. Do we pass it down to our consumer, which is in our case, our reseller worldwide, or do we absorb the cost? Well, there's no business that I've been in.
I mean, you were in the wine business, you know this, there's no way that a company can operate with an additional 145% tariff. I mean, your net operating income is just not there.
so you know it's sort of devastating to us to

to 45% tariff. I mean, your net operating income is just not there.
So, you know, it's sort of devastating to us on many different levels, but most importantly, on the level of the consumer, particularly ones that we serve, because, you know, when we deal with nonprofits, you know, they have a limited budget. And so what it now means is that do they not get the share or did they get, you know, a third or 20% of what they require? So, Joseph, I mean, did you end up making the purchase or you just, you know, you just are waiting around with all that uncertainty? What'd you do? We wait right now because we have sufficient inventory to cover us for another maybe four months.
That's it. But, you know, with lead times, et cetera, we really have to have those containers shipped within the next 15 to 20 days.
Otherwise we're going to run out. So, you know, it's, it's a operating a business, obviously, as you, as you know, this is not always going to be, you know, rosy if it was probably everybody would do it.
It's not, that's just not the way it works. And you're in a game that's probably even tougher than mine.
But, but the reality is that, you know, you have to kind of deal with the cars as they are presented. And, um, right now I think what is hurting many of us, in addition to the, the tariff is the uncertainty and the, you know, for lack of a better word, the flip-flopping of, is it going away or is it staying? And, and so, you know, we have a real urgency in our industry because of the necessity to satisfy the demand.
What do you, Joseph, just out of curiosity and, you know, look, when you put everything on the line, all the risk, you leverage, you talk about how capital intensive, you just prove that point as relates to, you know, just those kind of those purchasing orders that you're making and the bet you're placing. But how do you how do you even talk to your employees? I mean, what do you tell these guys? What do you tell your folks around you? And as you say, I mean, you talk about the most vulnerable, what you're doing for charities and nonprofits.
And I think that really paints a pretty powerful picture. But what's the anxiety level within the company, within the organization? So we're very transparent.
A lot of the guys that, you know, I've owned several companies in my career. And this particular one, I brought in a lot of guys that I've worked with for 18 to 20 years.
So they're friends. Most of them were either professional athletes or along the lines of playing at university, baseball, football, you name it.
So we're all highly competitive. And we all – our manner of operation, we're very direct in terms of how we speak to each other.
So they're well aware.

And there was a point that, you know, a conversation was had where we said, guys, look, if this is the way it's going to be, I cannot promise everybody's job. It's just not conceivable, let alone my own, let alone my own company.
right because if this were to carry on um, you know, for the next 12 months or so, I just can't imagine anybody in our industry that's playing on a level playing field would be able to operate. It's just not possible.
So it's a really concerning thing. And I know I'm taking up airspace here, but if you don't mind me just saying also, had we, you know, if we had the infrastructure in America to do this, you know, in terms of what I mentioned earlier, the batteries, the joysticks, the aluminum, the ability to do this.
And we had the resources of being able to kind of operate this business, which I mean, it's not inexpensive, you know, would require several, several million dollars to operate a manufacturing company. You know, I'm not opposed to that.
I'm not opposed to actually trying this out. But I will say this, given my experience is that even if we were to do that, you know, a wheelchair that might cost somebody today, $1,200 isn't going to cost $1,200 tomorrow.
You know, if we're manufacturing this, it's going to be, you know, $2,400, $2,500. Yep.
So the bottom line, I mean, and I appreciate it. At the end of the day, the bottom line is the bottom line.
And one has to soberly sort of understand the consequences, the benefits, obviously, of bringing those supply chains back home, the opportunities and the jobs created in that. But from the consumer perspective, that's a pretty stark increase and a reminder of the trade-off as it relates to this.
Look, Joseph, I appreciate you painting that picture. Thank you for highlighting some real world impacts that are acute and immediate, and also just the deep uncertainty as we wait day to day.
And as you suggest, it's, you know, it changes day to day, the flip-flop, the lack of certainty. And as a business owner myself, and I appreciate that reference, certainty is the coin of the realm.
At least you can work around that and you can make some decisions, but the inability to make decisions is perhaps to me the most stifling. And I think for you, you know, I can't imagine the most alarming part of all of this.
Yeah, no doubt. The uncertainty plays a huge part.
And, you know, we're trying to represent a company that is American based and grown. And, you know, and we take great pride in what we do.
You know, there's a lot of stories here of individuals that have family members that require what we do. And it's just extremely frustrating, you know, to sort of be in a situation where we've grown and developed such a reputable organization and find ourselves in a situation that is completely out of our control.
Yeah. You know, we're really just sort of, we have no control over this portion of what we can do.
Well, I appreciate it. But you know what, it's the fact that you're willing to share that story gives you agency, gives people, I think, a deeper understanding of what's at stake.
And thank you, Joseph, as well. You only reinforce the why, the why I'm proud on behalf of you and 40 million of us.
California was the first state in the country to sue the Trump administration as it relates to his authority on these tariffs. And by the way, I am damn confident we're going to win that.
And we're going to get clarity on that in the next few weeks. So I really appreciate you willing to share your story.
Thanks for all the good work, your remarkable work you're doing, how you're changing lives for your charitable focus, not just for your entrepreneurial spirit. Yeah.
Thank you for that. Take care.
Thanks so much for joining us. You're welcome.
Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Hey, Jennifer. Hi.
Hi, Gavin Newsom. How are you doing? I am good.
You're in the great city of Palm Springs, right? This is correct. This is correct.
I love it. And tell me a little bit about your business, when you opened it up, and how you're feeling about everything right now.
Well, thank you. Thank you again for taking the time and allowing us to share what's happening with small business right now.

So my name is Jennifer Gold, and I'm the founder and curator of Grounded Body Works, a boutique wellness spa based in Palm Springs. We're celebrating our 13th year this summer.
and when I started there was just me and one of my massage therapists that I actually taught massage. I was the director at a local school for a minute and hired her and it was just us for a while.
And now I have a team of 12. And goodness, it's just been, It's been kind of a whirlwind.
I've learned a lot leading up to COVID. I think under, goodness, Obama, our business was growing steadily year after year.
And then the pandemic hit and that momentum was just gone overnight. And if I could take a moment to just personally thank you for your support during COVID.
I took the grant. I have the EDA loan.
I'm currently repaying, made the difference between closing our doors and surviving. So thank you.
No, thank you for that. So is this, I mean, Jennifer, right now, I mean, forgive me for cutting you off because I think it's an interesting, I mean, the fact that you went through that experience and the trauma personally, professionally, as it relates to COVID.
How is this moment? Is it bring back those memories? Is it is it on par with that? The uncertainty, the impacts to your business? It's definitely uncertain. The struggles are very real.
They're still very real. I can't believe it's been five years.
We're still recovering. For many of us, it's fragile.
And these tariffs can be the thing that pushes us over the edge. And how are the tariffs directly impacting the work there? I imagine, I mean, we've been reading a lot all over the national news, Palm Springs reaching out to Canadians.
Two million Canadians last year visited the state of California. Palm Springs, one of the biggest beneficiaries of the number of tourist dollars spent.
Has that had an impact? Is it more direct in terms of supply chain and materials that you're using at the spot? Give us a sense. Paint the picture.
Sure, sure. So I'd say there's like three caveats that I'm experiencing right now.
Personally, and then with my business, I'm just on a spending freeze. We're afraid.
I'm afraid to invest. As a business owner, I've paused all major purchases.
I want to invest in growth, but right now, the uncertainty is just too great. Our customers are also hesitant.
Even in an affluent area like Palm Springs, people are pulling back on non-essential spending. That slows everyone down.
I'd love to partner with Hydrafacial. It's a long beach.
So I'm from Compton. My family's from Quebec.
So you know, what I do with Grounded is I promote all these local businesses from LA, where I'm from, to all the way to Quebec, where my family's from. I'd love to bring in Hydrafacial, this California brand and manufacturer, but the machine costs over $30,000.
I'm not about to invest in that right now. And then I'd say the next thing would be our vendors.
Even like our skincare line is Osea in Malibu. I'm sure you've heard of them.
Women owned, brand based in California, their ingredients and operations are all local, but that doesn't make them immune. If tariffs increase the cost of imported packaging materials, glass, you know, they have glass, but there's pumps, there's lids, it affects pricing.
That increase comes to me. And then it's passed on to my customers.
Even if we're doing everything right and we shop local, we support California companies staying sustainable as we can afford to do that. But local, I'm sorry, global policy is still hitting our bottom line.
And third, it's been a very emotional two months, but a month and a half saying goodbye to our canadians um you are correct uh ron to heart our mayor just sent out an email addressing this um palm springs is amazing they've been really trying to help support canada they just hung all these banners downtown just to show our support there's all these canadian flags it's it's beautiful but it's been very emotional. Every spring, we say goodbye to our Canadian visitors.
This year, many have said goodbye for good. Some have sold their homes.
They're not rebooking. These guests have supported us for years, including through the pandemic.
Their absence this year is emotional and financially crushing. They bring in $302 million just to Palm Springs or the Coachella Valley alone.
Palm Springs is deeply tied to Canadian tourism. And if we lose our small businesses and are left with only big box stores, we'll lose the very character of our city.
I mean, we're still recovering, you know? Wow. Thank you for painting that picture, Jennifer.
It's, you know, in California, we're launching a multimillion dollar campaign to encourage Canadians to come back to Canada. A campaign we announced a few weeks ago saying, you know, California wouldn't be California without Canadians.
But the response to it was interesting. People are very raw and emotional about it.
And even though California is not, it's not maybe the most untrumped state in America, their state of mind is still a tremendous animus from the damage we've done to the relationships up north. And I imagine just for you, the emotion is extended to just family you have up in Quebec, right? I have one aunt left up there.
The rest of the family moved to the States in the seventies and she just couldn't leave her horses day. So she's, she's still up there, but it's really, you know, my vendor friends, we're communicating.
We're trying.

We're trying to make it work.

I only have two Canadian vendors right now.

But if I may give you an example, our nail.

So I run a spa, a boutique spa in Palm Springs.

And we offer nail services in our vendor for our nail products are in L.A. It's called Coat.
And she's redoing her line. A lot of the packaging is from China.
So because of these tariffs, I've been rethinking, do I stick with Coat? And then there's a line up in Canada called Be Kind. And they have a nail line, and it's made in Canada.
But again, I just feel like I'm going to lose, lose, you know, just trying to stay local, but make it all work. Well, Jennifer, I really appreciate you putting a human face, your own humanity behind this.
And I extend that humanity quite literally, your support for others in the region, other small businesses. And I think it's so insightful and helpful that, as you say, even locally made products have packaging components and other component parts that they have to import.
And those costs are burdens that ultimately will be passed on to you and potentially your customers. And it's such a helpful, I think, insight to understand the impacts, the cascading impacts of these tariffs, including obviously the tourism component that compounds that.
But what you said, I think, is the most damning. It's just the level of anxiety that you have to personally go through, professionally go through.
And as a consequence of that anxiety and unwillingness to make big, bold decisions, which are decisions often you have to make with some confidence about the future and what it will hold. And so thank you for sharing your story.
Thank you for weathering a lot of storms. I'm confident you'll continue to.
And I think it's a big help for those watching and those listening.

I appreciate that.

Thank you again for all your support.

Couldn't have chosen a better state to be in right now.

So thank you again.

We're going to take it to the Trump administration and we're going to beat back these tariffs.

You watch.

We have our day in court quite literally coming up very shortly.

Jennifer, thanks so much for joining us.

Thanks so much.

Thank you very much.