Southwest Houston entrepreneur concerned about rising tariffs: 'It's been so challenging'

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- From the oil industry to small businesses, the Trump administration's tariffs on imports from Mexico, Canada, and China are impacting people across the nation and in southeast Texas.

Giant Dollar is now having to make small changes due to the tariffs.

"As our prices increase, we keep increasing our selling prices, and that's been difficult. It's been so challenging, you see prices marked up throughout," Giant Dollar owner Nick Merchant said.

Merchant owns 11 stores across Houston. He says for around 30 years, they were able to keep prices low at $1 or $1.39, but with 80% of his product from China, it's now forcing his hand, adding several orange tags to items with lots of uncertainty.

"These last six months, it's just been so significant, especially now. Even now, we don't know where the final cost is going to land or what our freight cost is going to be," Merchant said.

John Diamond with Rice University's Baker Institute says that's not the only impact the troubling tariffs are expected to have on southeast Texas and beyond.

"The chances of a recession have increased greatly. With the trade war with China, imports are going to fall dramatically," Diamond said.

Diamond adds another industry bracing for a potential impact that includes oils and refineries across the area.

"You're tariffing stuff like steel, and a lot of aluminum and components that are used in the production of oil, and so that can have an impact on oil-producing firms," Diamond said.

But for small business owners like Merchant, everything is now a calculated move.

"We know times are tough, but we don't take this decision of increasing our prices very lightly. There's a lot of thought and a lot of effort going into it. We do it when it's ultimately really, really necessary," Merchant said.

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