It’s a business that is about bolting things down.
“This business is selling screws, nuts, bolts, and any other kind of fastener our customers require,” Trinity Fastener president and owner Craig Christensen said.
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WATCH HEREBut he added that things feel very unstable right now.
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SIGN UP “The biggest, hardest thing to do is the confusion of what's going on, when it's going to happen,” Christensen added.
Wednesday, President Donald Trump placed a 50% tariff on imported steel and aluminum that hits his products.
“Those fasteners are made of carbon steel,” Christensen said. “Then they're plated with a zinc plating most times. But of course, stainless steel is a big, popular part, also.”
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Thanks to supplies ordered early and already in house, he won't be feeling an immediate impact.
“The tariffs only apply once the ship hits the port, and they offload it,” Christensen explained. “That's when the tariff hits. So, I won't feel this until six months down the road.”
He knows some prices will still go up now because pricing varies from one importer to the next as each tries to adjust for tariffs.
“A lot of importers, manufacturing importers, they will have already bumped up the price of their products, trying to get ahead of the game,” Christensen said. “So, in that fact, we've already felt some of this impact.”
This pricing game isn't easy for him.
“Trying to run a business and trying to project what's going to happen, it's impossible,” Christensen said. “It's impossible for us to know what's going to be happening tomorrow. And so we just take one day at a time.”
He hopes the U.S. and its trade partners can eventually come to a mutual agreement.
“Find a number, stick with it,” Christensen said.
