This issue, we reached out to some friends of the Grapevine to ask a simple question: how do the tariffs affect you? Here are some of the responses.
“Due to recent changes in US tax tariffs, our company has been significantly impacted. Pósturinn, our primary shipping provider, has suspended all shipments to the United States, which directly affects our operations. With approximately 90 percent of our web store sales coming from the US, this disruption has left us unable to fulfil customer orders. As a result, we are currently evaluating the future of our web store and are considering shutting it down entirely. The situation highlights how international policy changes can have serious consequences for small businesses relying on global markets. We hope for a resolution that restores reliable access.” — Hákon Freyr Hovdenak, CEO of Hovdenak Distillery
“This is having an impact now; we are not sending wool sweaters to people who shop with us in the store and have them shipped to their homes in the United States. There has also been a decline in online sales. This is clearly affecting us. The postal service in the United States has also been deteriorating, even before the tariffs were imposed. This summer, we have been receiving more shipments returned from the United States.” — Baldrún Kolfinna Jónsdóttir, CEO of Handknitting Association of Iceland
“Shipping is now faster with DHL, but costs have nearly doubled. Tariffs add to that, so it does make things tougher—hopefully it eases soon.” — Sófus Gústavsson, CEO of nammi.is
“Well. At least our workload with regards to packaging orders to the USA has diminished significantly. Sadly, this means our revenue has also diminished, since sales to the USA have basically dropped off completely, and they were our biggest market. We used that revenue to subsidise The Reykjavík Grapevine’s journalism, so that’s not great. That fucking idiot of a president can go fuck himself. You can quote me on that.” — Aðalsteinn Jörundsson, CFO of Grapevine Store
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