LOUISVILLE, Ky. — President Donald Trump said he’s made progress on a trade deal with China.
On Nov. 1, the White House said the deal will end Chinese retaliation against U.S. semiconductor manufacturers and other major U.S. companies and open China’s market to U.S. soybeans and other agricultural exports.
A Kentucky comic and game store owner said it has changed little to his bottom line, saying the tariffs have hurt small businesses.
“But it’s me unloading Christmas for other people, so. Oh, we got some little plushies. We got a little plushies. That’ll be great for the holidays. Everybody loves the Mario shell, the blue shell,” said Card N All Gaming and Repair owner Mason Berry.
Berry’s handled tariffs for much of the year.
“It’s a full-time job trying to just find a product to put on the shelves, which was never a thing before. I didn’t ever have to worry about having enough Pokemon or have enough plushies or things like that,” Berry said.
Not only are his inventory prices increasing ahead of the busy holiday season, there are product delays and Berry said some manufacturers aren’t even selling or making certain products.
“I mean, compared to last year, I’m having to pay maybe 50% more on top of stuff that I’ve been buying, just normal stuff that I’ve been stocking just around the whole the whole year,” Berry said.
In late October, President Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping struck a trade agreement. Under the deal, the U.S. will lower overall tariffs on Chinese goods to 47% from 57%, and China said it would make “corresponding adjustments” to its tariffs on U.S. exports. The deal would also reopen sales of Chinese rare earth minerals and u.s. soybeans.
“We have a deal. Now, every year we’ll renegotiate the deal. But I think the deal will go on for a long time, long beyond the year. We’ll negotiate at the end of the year. But all of the rare earth has been settled. That’s right. Yeah. And that’s for the world. I mean, you know, worldwide. And there’s, I guess you could really say this was a worldwide situation, not just the U.S. situation,” Trump said in October.
Berry said that the worldwide situation is leading to less availability.
“I have probably three different guys that I buy this stuff from and just depending on when they have it in stock or, you know, wherever I’m ordering from it, where it makes sense to, to get it from, that’s why I kind of get to go with,” Berry said.
The White House said part of the deal includes China suspending all the retaliatory tariffs that it has announced since March.