For a St. George furniture maker, Trump’s unpredictable tariffs have become a costly new normal

St. George • Wilding Wallbeds was awaiting a shipment of metal mechanisms from China this summer — pieces needed to move the company’s signature Murphy beds up and down — when it got an unwelcome surprise.

The company was expecting to pay a 30% tariff on the shipment. But before the mechanisms arrived, the U.S. had tacked on an additional 50% tariff on steel from China, leaving the St. George business on the hook for another $50,000, said Braxten Wilding, the company’s vice president.

Given the backlog of orders that had already been paid for, Wilding said the business had little recourse other than to eat the additional cost.

“We couldn’t go back to customers and say, ‘Hey, we know we charged you this much, but now we have to charge you a little more,’” Wilding said.

The surprise cost was just one example of the uncertainty and unpredictability the Trump administration’s tariff spat with China has caused since the start of his second term. Wilding Wallbeds has seen its profits dip by roughly 10% since, limiting the family-owned business’s cash flow and ability to plan or invest in expansions, Wilding said.

For Wilding, it’s also a cost he says the company has to endure. The company sources the wood used for its Murphy beds from the Pacific Northwest. But, it has to import the metal mechanisms from China because there is no American manufacturer.

Wilding said the company pays China in advance for the mechanisms, but never knows what tariff will be assessed at the port of entry in the U.S., given the volatility of the tariff situation between the two nations.

“When [the mechanisms] get to port and we get hit with an unexpected tariff,” he said, “we can’t say we don’t want the product because we already paid for it. So we have to pay up, however much it ends up being.”

Due to the unpredictability of the tariffs, Wilding added, company officials constantly monitor the news to stay abreast of the latest changes to the U.S. and China’s tariff policies, but are hard-pressed to determine the difference between what is authoritative and what is just verbal sparring between the two countries.

“The tariffs are changing so quickly and often we are constantly reaching out to our freight brokers to help us understand how the changes might impact us,” he said. “We are often buying things without really knowing what we will be paying, which reduces our profits and causes cash flow concerns.”

While company officials say they understand the tariffs are aimed at bolstering American manufacturing, they say the levies are taxing on small-to-medium-sized businesses like theirs.

Wilding Wallbeds is not alone in feeling the tariff pinch. According to a recent analysis by S&P Global, Trump’s tariffs will cost global businesses roughly $1.2 trillion this year, a third of which will be borne by companies and the remainder on consumers. According to The Tax Foundation, the tariffs will raise taxes on U.S. households by an average of $1,100 in 2025 and $1,400 in 2026.

A difficult position

John Gilbert, an economics professor at Utah State University’s Huntsman School of Business, said the tariffs place businesses like Wilding Wallbeds in a difficult position.

“They either have to absorb those increased costs, which cuts into their profits or pass them on to the final consumer,” he said. “But if they raise prices, that causes people to buy less, which also cuts into their profits.”

Gilbert said small businesses, which lack the flexibility to change supply chains and make other adjustments, are hurt the most, but added all businesses are being hurt by the tariffs.

“The whole policy is crazy,” he said. “There might be arguments for placing import protections on a limited number of sensitive sectors for national security reasons. But other than that, I can’t see any coherent argument for imposing the kind of tariffs that the [Trump administration] has.”

Wilding Wallbeds’ origins date back to the custom woodworking and furniture shop his father and grandfather opened in the 1990s. After filling a first-ever order for a Murphy bed, Wilding said, the business eventually morphed into a full-time foldaway bed manufacturer.

Today, the family business is a multimillion-dollar enterprise that employs 70 workers and sells several thousand Murphy beds a year, ranging from $3,000 to $7,000. And instead of operating out of home, Wilding Wallbeds has a spacious manufacturing facility in the Fort Pierce Business Park and showroom or sales locations in St. George, Scottsdale, Ariz., and El Segundo, Calif.

The business is currently co-owned by their father, Dennis, and their uncle, Dan Wilding. Braxten and his brother, Caden, expect to eventually take over the family business.

Thus far, he said, Wilding Wallbeds’ survival is not at stake, but he worries smaller companies that are not as well-positioned might be at risk. He would like the Trump administration to exempt or lessen the tariff load on small businesses.

It’s unclear if such a move will come, or if there’s any appetite for it in Washington.

Asked about Sen. John Curtis’ position on tariff exemptions, his communications director, Adam Cloch, said the senator has consistently advocated for and spoken with members of the Trump administration, including U.S. Small Business Administration head Kelly Loeffler, about the need for certainty on tariffs. Cloch noted that the senator hasn’t “weighed in on the specific exempt status of businesses.”

“The senator also believes Congress should control long-term tariff policymaking,” he said, adding that Curtis believes Congress needs to take back that power, no matter what the U.S. Supreme Court decides on whether a president has the authority to impose tariffs.

Thus far, Wilding Wallbeds has absorbed the additional costs due to tariffs. But Wilding said the company may eventually be forced to pass those increases on to consumers.