Eden Prairie firm was set to pay $18K in tariffs on its shipment from China. Now it's $170K.

Tariffs on a shipment of cables and TV mounts en route from China to Eden Prairie firm My Cable Mart will now total $170,000. Four days ago, they would have been $18,000.

Neil Marriott, CEO of My Cable Mart, said he had to inform customers that prices on those items would increase 22%.

It did not go over well.

By Thursday, six customers — an agricultural firm, two medical device firms, two retailers and a fan manufacturer — had canceled orders worth $50,000.

But if My Cable Mart hadn't raised the prices, it would have lost money on every order.

Now Marriott, like other leaders of small U.S. companies, is trying to decide what to do next — and for the rest of the year.

This week, President Donald Trump raised tariffs on almost every country by 10%. He had proposed much higher tariffs for many countries but pulled back on almost all of them except for China.

Most tariffs on Chinese goods are now 145%. But some that fall in special product categories could be even higher. China has retaliated, setting tariffs on U.S. goods at 125%.

Caught in the middle of an escalating trade war are companies that depend on imports for their livelihoods.

Some of the firms say they are considering layoffs. Others are considering taking out loans or lines of credit to cover the tariffs.

Fastenal, a supplier of fasteners and other necessary parts and equipment to factories across the country, already has enacted some price increases and will take more if needed, CEO Dan Florness said Friday during the Winona-based company's quarterly earnings call with analysts.

"There's no way to cushion 145% tariffs," Florness said. "There's no math that you can make that work."

Fastenal kept its quarterly income steady year over year, and while the company can renegotiate contracts based on changing factors, Florness questioned just how much a company can do that and keep customers.

"You have to ask yourself what demand gets destroyed," he said.

Marriott is among those wondering if they will be forced to abandon huge cargo containers of goods — which they have already paid for — at U.S. ports.

Company owners also are worried about losing more customers as they increase prices.

Trump has said he believes tariffs will balance trade deficits and bring more manufacturing operations to the U.S.

His moves have thousands of businesses scrambling, trying to get advice on what to do next and how to calculate prices.

"Working with thousands of small businesses, our phones have been ringing off the hook with customers seeking strategies to mitigate impacts and execute them quickly," said Chris Sikora, director of port services at global logistics giant C.H. Robinson, which is based in Eden Prairie. "While our scale allows us to do both those things, the first step is helping customers understand their impact."

Some customers, he said, can take a temporary "wait-and-see approach" because they have already received freight for the summer and back-to-school seasons.

Many companies that do not have that option are in crisis mode.

"I'm sick to my stomach," Marriott said.

My Cable Mart ships four containers a year from China. Marriott has calculated that the company will take on more than $600,000 in additional costs this year because of the increased tariffs.

He assumes the company will lose more business because the higher prices.

"It's not fun," he said. "We do expect it to be a hardship. I am hoping that is not such a hardship [that] we do need to look at layoffs."

Beth Fynbo Benike, whose company Busy Baby made the decision to abandon $160,000 worth of her baby mat products in China, doesn't know what the next step will be.

Her pricing in contracts with Walmart and Target were based on the tariffs costing about $30,000. Now, it would cost the Oronoco company about $200,000.

She doesn't have the money.

"What that means is that when I run out of stock in two to three months, I no longer have products to sell and no more revenue coming in, which means I can't pay my bills. I can't pay my employees, or my debt," Fynbo Benike said.

She has considered rerouting her products through another country, but because the Trump administration's tariff plans have changed so much, she's worried she'll run into other issues.

Concerns about tariffs and a potential trade war have "led to the biggest sudden drop in confidence in the past decade except for when COVID-19 hit the U.S. in March 2020," Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis wrote in an essay on Wednesday. "When people and businesses lose confidence, they pull back from spending and investing, potentially leading to a meaningful slowdown in economic activity, perhaps even to a recession."

That's what worries Marriott at My Cable Mart.

For him the new tariffs mean price hikes that "will most likely reduce sales," Marriott said while combing through products at the company's warehouse. "People just don't have an extra 22% [to pay out] when you look at all the consumers everywhere."

Patrick Kennedy of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this report.