Village Lighting, a Utah-based Christmas decor supplier, is facing a 1,438% spike in tariff costs under the renewed U.S. trade war, exposing how sweeping economic policies are crushing small businesses and raising holiday prices for millions of American families.
The New Reality for Small Business: Tariffs Outpacing Profits
The 2025 holiday season is dramatically reshaping the landscape for small importers across America. For Village Lighting in West Valley City, Utah, the math is brutal: tariff bills on their imported garlands, wreaths, and lights have soared as high as 50% per item.
Jared and Dawnita Hendricks, who have owned this holiday mainstay for 23 years, find themselves hit by a wave of fees traceable directly to the current tariff agenda. These U.S. import duties have surged to their highest levels since the early twentieth century, fundamentally altering how—and whether—seasonal businesses survive.
The Cost of Holiday Cheer: Why the Impact Is So Severe
The scale of the hit is staggering. A coalition of small businesses called “We Pay the Tariffs,” of which Village Lighting is a member, estimates that U.S. holiday decor companies have collectively paid over $400 million in new tariffs in 2025—up from just $26 million last year. That’s a jaw-dropping increase of at least 1,438% [NBC News – Christmas decor industry impact].
Unlike some larger companies able to hedge or adapt supply chains quickly, the Hendricks placed their orders nearly a year ahead—long before a new round of sweeping tariffs hit almost every U.S. trading partner in early April. Their goods were locked in and already shipped by sea when the new rates landed, eliminating any chance to avoid the brunt.
- Total added costs so far: Almost $750,000 withdrawn automatically from their business accounts as inventory lands on U.S. shores.
- Planned retail price hikes: Less than 5%—but only possible by leveraging their home and personal credit to absorb losses.
“We went from working towards a profit to working for tariffs,” Jared Hendricks told reporters, describing sleepless nights and the harsh reality of risking their home merely to keep prices reasonable for customers.
Historical Perspective: The Tariff Pendulum Swings Back
This is not the first time U.S. small businesses have faced tariff whiplash. In the previous Trump administration, tariff rates on Chinese imports rose to an average of around 20%, compared to just 2.8% in 2015 [World Bank – tariff data].
Many, including the Hendricks, responded by diversifying supply chains to Southeast Asian countries. But in 2025, new tariffs swept up those regions as well, undermining months of careful planning and exposing the limitations of simply moving supply chains. “All our planning went out the window,” Jared admitted.
Manufacturing at Home: Still Just a Dream for Small Firms
Proponents of high tariffs often argue that the result will be “reshoring”—bringing manufacturing jobs and supply lines back to the U.S. For Village Lighting, this solution is a nonstarter. Their business model requires dozens of factories, custom machinery, and a skilled workforce not easily replicated stateside.
“It’s not a matter of me opening up one factory. It’s a matter of me opening up two dozen factories and somehow providing a pathway to get raw materials,” Jared said, voicing a challenge shared by thousands of family-owned importers across the country.
Passing the Pain: How Tariffs Filter Down to Shoppers
The burden doesn’t end with business owners. Tariffs are quietly reshaping consumer spending as well. According to a survey from the National Retail Federation, 85% of U.S. shoppers now anticipate paying more for holiday items due to tariffs.
Analysis from Lending Tree found these extra tariffs will cost the average American an additional $132 this season. Goldman Sachs estimates that consumers absorb as much as 55% of all tariff costs in the form of higher prices.
- Key figures: $400 million in industry-wide small business tariffs, 1,438% annual cost increase, $132 in extra holiday costs per household.
The Broader Stakes: Can Small Businesses Survive?
The experience of the Hendricks is emblematic of a much larger economic experiment. Large-scale tariffs, designed as strategic tools for international negotiation, are colliding with the delicate margins of America’s 33 million small businesses.
Many, like Village Lighting, are being forced to choose between impossible price hikes and catastrophic personal risk. The Hendricks have mortgaged their own home and exhausted credit lines to absorb the shock, describing this year as the most stressful in their 23 years of business.
Meanwhile, the personal toll is visible—on their family, their plans for retirement, and their hopes for passing their business on. “This kind of feels like it’s just us against the failure of our business, because of something we cannot control,” Dawnita Hendricks explained.
Looking Forward: Are Tariffs the New Normal?
With global trade dynamics continuing to evolve, small businesses like Village Lighting face difficult questions. Will U.S. tariff policy swing back? Is diversification enough? For now, many simply have to endure, confronting the risk that seasons of joy could become years of debt—or even closure.
Every holiday purchase this year carries a story like Village Lighting’s: where the real cost is paid not just in dollars, but in the resilience and risk-taking of American entrepreneurs.
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