President Donald Trump said Wednesday, April 9, that he is authorizing a 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs to most countries. While in effect, the pause means that tariffs on imports from most nations will be what Trump has called the baseline rate of 10%. That’s lower than the so-called reciprocal tariff rates.

However, Trump also said he will be increasing tariffs placed on imports from China. The tariff rate he will have implemented on China in 2025 will now be 145% – which is in addition to previous tariffs on that nation already in place from Trump's first term as president. The White House clarified April 10 that the 125% rate on China that Trump announced April 9 didn't include the 20% rate he'd previously placed on China imports this year for that nation's alleged role in fentanyl trafficking to the United States. Taken together, Trump has placed a 145% additional tariff rate on China this year. 

Tariffs are essentially taxes on imports. U.S. companies importing products into the country are responsible for paying the levies, not foreign companies and foreign governments. Importers often pass these costs along, driving up prices for consumers and other businesses that ultimately buy the importers’ products.

The tariffs on China and other nations have had the promotional products industry and sectors across the economy scrambling as fears of intense inflation and recession swirl.

Also, Trump’s repeated practice of announcing tariffs, implementing them, and then pausing and/or downscaling them has created vast marketplace uncertainty that’s propelled wild swings in the stock market and anxiety among business leaders, all of which stands to inhibit end-buyer demand for promotional products, executives have told ASI Media.

'Not Done Riding This Wave'

As such, some promo pros were taking Trump's April 9 tariff pause announcement with a grain of salt.

“We’re still not done riding this wave,” Joseph Sommer, CEO of merch distributor Whitestone (asi/359741), a Counselor Best Place to Work, told ASI Media. "The ongoing tensions with China and Trump’s broader tariff strategy continue to isolate the U.S. from global partners. While a reciprocal tariff pause might sound like relief on the surface, the uncertainty it creates is a nightmare – especially for small businesses, which make up 98% of our industry. This kind of high-stakes, public back-and-forth doesn’t allow businesses to plan with confidence. Stability – not volatility – is what drives growth.”

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Promo suppliers shared varying views on Trump’s announcement of higher China tariffs and a pause on reciprocal tariffs for many nations. Yuhling Lu, CEO/co-owner of Missouri-based Counselor Top 40 supplier Ariel Premium Supply (asi/36730), said the new heightened rates on China could prove crippling for companies – and industries – that import from that nation.

“This escalation is unsustainable,” Lu, a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of promo’s most influential people, told ASI Media. “We have put all orders on hold with our factories. No one can afford this. If this continues, there will be no trade.”

Power 50 member Dan Jellinek was focused on what he characterized as the positives of the lowering of the reciprocal rates. “This is a good day for all of us,” Jellinek, chief revenue officer at Counselor Top 40 supplier The Magnet Group (asi/68507), told ASI Media. “After Trump’s first-term tariffs, we started to diversify more outside of China. I was starting to wonder if all that hard work would be negated or compromised because of the reciprocal tariffs. I’m happy to say I feel a great deal better now.”

“This escalation is unsustainable. We have put all orders on hold with our factories. No one can afford this. If this continues, there will be no trade.” Yuhling Lu of Missouri-based Ariel Premium Supply (asi/36730), on the latest China tariffs

Power 50 member Chris Anderson, CEO of Counselor Top 40 supplier HPG (asi/61966), said the firm’s approach following Trump’s April 9 reciprocal tariff pause and China levy hike is to follow a course it’s been on: Focus on the matters that are within HPG’s immediate control, while seeking to mitigate real time, customer-facing impacts.

“Our tactics include item substitutions from within our deep stock of U.S.A. and Canadian inventory, or re-routing order fulfilment from one HPG facility to another, as we produce and ship from U.S.A., Canada and Mexico,” Anderson told ASI Media. “Looking further ahead, there will be calculated adjustments to our mid-to-long-term strategies to ensure we continue to be a globally-efficient solution for our distributor partners.”

In a social media post, Trump said he decided to increase the tariff rates on China because of the “the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets,” while indicating that nation’s new tariffs (125% rate as of this writing) against the United States, made in response to various Trump levies, were unacceptable and had to be met with a response.

Meanwhile, other countries were getting the reciprocal tariff pause to a lower rate. “More than 75 Countries” Trump wrote, “have called to negotiate a solution...and have not, at my strong suggestion, retaliated in any way, shape, or form.” As a result, Trump said, “I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately.” The Wall Street Journal reported that worries about causing a depression and other economic concerns factored into Trump’s decision to enact the 90-day pause.

Stocks jumped April 9 following the 90-day tariff pause. The Dow was up 2,900 points, while the Nasdaq rose 12%. Still, a retreat was on the following day amid continued trade war consternation. Power 50 member Andy Shape, CEO of publicly traded Counselor Top 40 distributor Stran Promotional Solutions (asi/337725), said the heightened tariffs came as a blow.

“We did not anticipate the escalation of a tariff war with China reaching [145%] levels this quickly, and the pace and scale of these changes have presented significant challenges,” Shape told ASI Media. “The promotional products industry has spent decades building a complex, interconnected supply chain with China. Re-engineering that infrastructure in a matter of weeks or months is not a simple task.”

Nonetheless, Shape said Stran has been closely monitoring the tariff situation for several months and has been proactively working through things with partners that include promo suppliers, import brokers, customers and overseas factories from which it sometimes sources directly. Some steps have included exploring alternative sourcing options, such as U.S.-manufactured products.

“In cases where deposits or commitments have already been made,” said Shape, “we’re working carefully to navigate those obligations while still minimizing downstream impact. At the same time, we’re in constant communication with our domestic suppliers to understand how these tariffs may affect pricing in the near future and to identify ways we can offset those changes for our clients.”

Trump’s tariff actions in 2025 include the 145% levies on China, the baseline tariffs of 10% on virtually all imports, duties on steel, aluminum and automobiles, and levies on Canadian and Mexican imports not covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

Promo imports the vast majority of items it sells in the United States from overseas, with China being the primary sourcing destination. While some distributors import directly, promo’s supply chain works thus that suppliers are typically bringing products stateside and then selling them to distributors, who are sourcing the goods on behalf of end-buyers.

Trump has said the tariffs are intended to help make America more secure and economically stronger, while correcting what he says are long-standing trade imbalances and trade abuses by other nations with respect to the United States.