Trump’s Tariffs Strain US-China Small Business Ties

Trade has transformed both China and the United States.

Over the decades, access to the vast American market turbocharged China’s manufacturing-led economy, while entrepreneurs in the United States used Chinese supply chains to turn their ideas into reality. Out of that grew close relationships that benefited businesses on both sides of the Pacific.

Now trade has brought the two superpowers into conflict, with each imposing heavy tariffs on the other’s exports.

As officials in Washington and Beijing tried to settle their differences, The New York Times spoke with three worried American business owners and their Chinese partners, visiting their factories and workshops. We asked them to tell us about how they built the lasting ties that helped one another succeed and whether they thought those ties could last.

In 2016, Ms. Dickerson, 50, had 15 minutes to persuade CVS to stock a liquid that dissolved ear wax. She walked out with a deal that would land her product in more than 8,000 stores nationwide. Her company, Eosera, was only a year old, but Ms. Dickerson decided she needed to design custom bottles and caps. That meant finding a supplier — and fast.

In Ningbo, China, Mr. Hu, 45, ran a company that specialized in making small medical supplies for ear care and was trying to capture a larger share of the American market.

This was how the two first connected.

Earbuds were the best thing that ever happened to Ms. Dickerson’s product. She had thought that her solution would target people who use hearing aids. But as more Americans jammed headphones into their ears, Eosera discovered a bigger pool of customers experiencing ear wax buildup and itchiness.

Large pharmacies, grocery chains and major retailers took notice. Today, Ms. Dickerson’s 40-employee company in Fort Worth makes more than 20 different products sold online and in roughly 28,000 stores nationwide.

As Eosera expanded, it helped lift the fortunes of Mr. Hu’s company, too. And as his company grew — it now employs 400 people — it learned how to anticipate the demands of American customers. It learned to move fast and adapt. Most of all, it learned how to improve its manufacturing processes, opening the door to producing more complex medical supplies.

When President Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods and called for manufacturing to return home, Ms. Dickerson took a hard look at whether her relationship with Mr. Hu still made sense. But Eosera, like many American businesses, was deeply intertwined with its Chinese partner.

Mr. Hu’s company designed all of the molds for Eosera’s products, including one of its signature items.

Switching entirely to U.S. suppliers, Ms. Dickerson said, would cost too much and take months, if not years, to do.

Not wanting to pay the heavy tariff, Ms. Dickerson paused her shipments for a month. Several of Mr. Hu’s other American clients decided to do the same.

With the new tariffs temporarily reduced, the company is now pressing to get the orders onto container ships, competing with others who have the same idea and paying higher shipping costs.

Despite all the uncertainty, they want to keep working together.

For now, Ms. Dickerson and Mr. Hu have renegotiated their contracts to share the additional costs. They are both hoping for much lower tariffs soon.

The partnership that catapulted the careers of Mr. Soong, 42, and Mr. Wong, 54, got off to an awkward start.

Mr. Soong’s firm, Allitra, helps companies find suppliers in China, and one day in 2013, he brought a group of entrepreneurs from San Francisco to Mr. Wong’s makeshift workspace in Dongguan, in southeastern China.

One thing about that day still stands out for both of them: They remember noticing their cultural differences.

Mr. Soong’s clients were from a start-up called Peak Design that had generated buzz on Kickstarter for a new product: a metal clip that would securely fasten cameras to bag straps or belts, for easy access. Like many American companies with a promising idea, Peak Design did not have the capability to make the clip itself.

Mr. Soong pitched himself as the person who could find them the perfect manufacturer. He had learned to hustle like this from his father, who started the business as a young immigrant from Taiwan. But to win over Peak Design, Mr. Soong knew he needed his father’s old contact Mr. Wong.

The stakes were high for Mr. Soong. Allitra was reeling from the 2008 financial crisis, and orders from clients he took over from his father were drying up. Landing a company on the rise offered the promise of a more stable future.

At the time, Mr. Wong was a consultant with deep connections in Dongguan helping companies build products and manage supply chains. Like much of China, the once rural village had fast become an indispensable link in global manufacturing and had a rich ecosystem of specialized factories and cheap skilled labor.

Mr. Wong recalled the moment he picked up a call from Mr. Soong.

Mr. Soong and Mr. Wong were critical to the early success of Peak Design, which today generates about $100 million in revenue with dozens of products ranging from suitcases to camera straps.

For Mr. Wong, working with Peak Design was transformative. He is no longer a hired gun, hopping from one project to another. He has built a 300-employee manufacturing enterprise, called E-Power, that is Peak Design’s largest Chinese supplier. It has more than $15 million a year in orders.

The Peak Design account also extended a lifeline to Mr. Soong.

His company has landed deals with more than 100 American companies, growing into a 24-person operation with staff in the United States, China, Taiwan and Vietnam. During this expansion, Mr. Wong has grown closer to Mr. Soong’s family.

But the tariffs — even at the lowered rates— are starting to test the partnership. Mr. Soong’s phone rings constantly from concerned American clients that make products in China. He has made trips to the Philippines and Thailand to check out factories and chat up potential factory partners.

Mr. Soong is looking for factories outside China only out of necessity. He still believes that China is unparalleled as a manufacturing hub, and he knows that the kind of trust he has with Mr. Wong is rare and takes years to build.

Mr. Ripp, 37, is an outdoorsman turned entrepreneur with a product that allows him to spend more time in nature.

Last year, Mr. Ripp and his business partner started producing a camper that could fit in the bed of a standard American pick-up truck. Less expensive than a full-size recreational vehicle, it would still offer amenities like a refrigerator and air-conditioning and the ability to stay off-grid in nature for days.

Designing an R.V. is one thing. Building it is another. To optimize the camper’s limited space, each piece fits together like a puzzle and requires securing dozens of components. Mr. Ripp and his team at Outpost Campers knew they would need China.

Dependence on Chinese components is a fact of life in making campers. For some components, there are no alternatives. The camper’s battery system, for example, is made only in China.

Tapping the Chinese supply chain allowed Mr. Ripp to get production up and running quickly. Since last summer, his team of 13 employees has maintained a tight production schedule to meet their goal of churning out two campers per week.

But as the co-owner of a small business strapped for cash and operating from a modest workshop in Bayfield, Colo., Mr. Ripp had to scramble when the punishing tariffs on Chinese goods were announced.

He was inundated with calls and emails from his suppliers. One of them, a power supply company, suggested he stock up before prices rose. Many others emailed to tell him what his new, higher prices would be.

After weeks of frantically looking for options, he shelled out over $400,000 to stockpile six months worth of supplies. He was able to find many key parts that had already been shipped to the United States at pre-tariff levels, including the critical Chinese battery system.

However, he’s still concerned about the challenges ahead.

For now, Mr. Ripp thinks he is set through the fall. But if the sky-high tariffs on China return, he doesn’t know exactly what he will do.