Tariff reactions vary among companies

FINDLAY — Most Findlay retailers declined to respond to a Courier inquiry about how they might be affected by President Trump's tariffs. Meijer's corporate office in Michigan said it does not anticipate having any shortages of goods and that it has been working to ensure its stores are not in any way affected. Some local manufacturers have been making efforts to buy as much inventory as possible in advance of tariff increases, said Chuck Bills, chief executive officer of Ohio Logistics. Bills' company spares manufacturers having to invest cash in the construction and labor costs of warehousing and distribution by doing it for them. "So, there's been an inquiry as to 'How much space do you have available? How long can we have it?'" said Bills, "Right now, there just isn't any space around this area. We're pretty full all over the place. "So, that's put some pains on companies trying to get product in and getting it to some place where they can sit on it," he said. Bills also sees other companies taking a different strategy. "Other companies are just saying, 'We're just going to hold off until we figure out what's going on,' which will have an effect on the retail shelf, if you will, at some point," he said. "So I guess the only way I can sum it up is, there is so much uncertainty that people — meaning our customers, what we're hearing — are just pausing everything. "We're getting inquiries now from a lot of manufacturers looking to add onto their manufacturing plant or build new plants," Bills said. "They've been put on pause to try to get a better feel for what's going to happen with tariffs because even though they may put a manufacturing plant here, some of their components are still going to have to be sourced from outside. And they just need to try to figure out where this is going to land so they have a better idea of their cost. "I think a lot of folks now, they're just in a pause," Bills said. If the pause continues for long, it could lead to temporary employee layoffs at some companies and leave stores with less goods on their shelves, he said. Bills believes tariffs can help the economy. "I do think there will be some reshoring" of manufacturing as a result of Trump's tariff increases, he said. However, a slower tariff approach might make things easier for everybody, Bills said. "I'm hoping the administration kind of steps back, in my view, and says, 'Hey, let's just take one or two countries at a time versus this broad brush swoop with everything and everybody,'" he said. "Work on three countries at a time, get them resolved, (and then) go to another three, but that's just me sitting in Findlay, Ohio." He is upbeat about how things will turn out in the long run. "I think this is just a little bit of hiccup. I think at the end of the day — as Americans do — we'll get our arms around this and be a little bit more strategic thinking versus just throwing a net out there," Bills said. "I don't see a long-term hard effect on Americans as a whole. I think we'll get through this in a short period of time."