Ramon van Meer, a small business owner, tested whether customers would pay more for products made in America after President Donald Trump increased tariffs on Chinese imports by 145%. To conduct the test, van Meer sourced US suppliers for his best-selling product—a specialized filtered shower head. Moving production entirely to the US would cost three times as much as paying the tariff. He then offered two identical products on his website: one made in China for $129 and another made in the US for $239. After several days and over 25,000 visitors, van Meer sold 584 of the cheaper shower heads but none of the US-made version. In a blog post, van Meer described the results as “sobering,” noting that while customers claim they support American labor, their purchasing decisions tell a different story. Now, van Meer is focusing on shifting production to a country with lower tariffs, as staying in China or moving to the US isn’t financially viable.
— new from Business Insider
