Trump tariffs threaten Mason greeting card company

Along with "birthday" and "anniversary," one Greater Cincinnati greeting card company may be thinking of a new idea for a message to send: "Don't impose tariffs."

The latest round of President Trump's proposed tariffs against China threaten financial damage to companies beyond the well-chronicled consumers of steel or lumber. Now, greeting cards are threatened.

Up With Paper, a greeting card company in Mason, north of Cincinnati, will lose $1.2 million every year if Trump’s new proposed tariffs go into effect, according to President and COO George White. 

White testified before the United States Trade Representative Wednesday on behalf of both Up With Paper and the Greeting Card Association, for which he also serves as president.

"Dramatic cost increases to retailers, which would then be passed on to consumers, are difficult in the current economic climate, forcing retailers to make difficult decisions about carrying our products," White wrote in his testimony. 

If these proposed tariffs are approved, White says his company would have to charge retailers roughly 10 percent more to carry the cards in stores. Retailers would have to choose to either absorb that extra cost or charge customers 10 percent more to buy the cards.

According to the Greeting Card Association, the average card costs between $2-$4, though ornamented cards like Up With Paper's are usually on the higher end of the price range. 

Since most of the retailers Up With Paper sells their cards to are small businesses, White says they would be forced to charge their customers at least 10 percent more per card. 

As the trade war with China continues, the president has threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on an additional $300 million worth of goods.

The new list of goods to be taxed includes a wide range of items from dairy products to office supplies to greeting cards.

According to White, the ornamented, three-dimensional greeting cards his company produces mostly come from hand assembly factories in China. 

“Publishers are not able to economically produce these cards within the United States,” White said. 

Up With Paper is a subsidiary of CM Paula Company, which employs 150 people in the Greater Cincinnati area. According to White, more than a third of those employees are either solely or primarily dedicated to Up With Paper-- employees whose jobs would be affected by the proposed tariffs. 

The new proposed tariffs are intended to increase pressure on China to stop what the USTR has called "unreasonable" and "discriminatory" trade practices. 

While the tariffs would hurt some smaller businesses like White's, they could lead some businesses to buy U.S.-made goods and add jobs to industries like steel, textile, apparel and electronic equipment manufacturers.

During his testimony, White asked the USTR to remove greeting cards from the list of items to be taxed if the new tariffs are approved, saying the tariff creates an unnecessary burden for the greeting card industry. The industry is already suffering financially after the postal service increased the price to send first-class mail in Jan. 2019.