ST. GEORGE, Utah — As some families deal with sticker shock this holiday season, a St. George family business just got slapped with an unexpected $50,000 bill caused by tariffs.
Wilding Wallbeds in St. George makes Murphy beds using wood from the Pacific Northwest and metal lifts from China. This summer, the company prepared for a 30% tariff on incoming steel parts from China, previously announced by the White House. Then, President Donald Trump announced a 50% hike, adding an unexpected $50,000 to their shipment cost.
"We were trying to figure out first whether it was real. Do all these tariffs apply to us or are we missing something?" said Braxten Wilding, the company's vice president of finance.
"The unpredictable nature was the tough part," Wilding said. "It was 50%, no, 30%, no, 80%."
With multiple buildings and around 80 employees, Wilding Wallbeds is the definition of a small, family-run business. Dennis and Dan Wilding started the company. Their sons, Braxten and Caden, split finance and marketing duties, while cousin Brandon handles sales.
"I actually enjoy spending time with family — even off the clock," said Brandon Wilding, the company's director of corporate sales.
They also run their operation like a family. The company is taking all their employees to see the new Avatar movie. Braxten says it's providing for the employees that is being lost, rather than passing costs to their customers.
"Some of our cash flow goes to paying these tariffs, when we could be using it for projects that would improve our business," Braxten said. "We didn't feel it would be right to go back to customers and say, 'Really sorry, but you have to pay a little extra.'"
Trump says the pain the tariffs might be causing to businesses is necessary to build up the U.S. manufacturing base long-term. While the Wildings say they understand that, they say it doesn't help them, their employees or their customers in the short-term.
"Finding a supplier here domestically takes time. I mean, it takes years," Braxten said. "With enough notice or advance warning, we can figure out how to deal with it. The thing that was really hard was when it was happening quickly."
He also thinks there should be some leeway provided to smaller businesses.
"It's a little more difficult for us for a smaller business because it's not like we have a team of supply chain experts that are helping us," Braxten said.
Braxten says a small pool in southwest Utah of potential employees has hurt them even more than tariffs. But he says any more unexpected tariffs may mean trimming the number of employees he has and increasing the price tag for customers.
