Tariffs have been a top topic of discussion in the pet industry, with manufacturers and retailers alike closely monitoring developments. At the time we published this story, on Feb. 9, tariffs impacting goods from Canada and Mexico are on hold, but an additional 10% tariff has been implemented on goods imported from China.
This tariff on Chinese products has independent pet retailers asking how it will affect availability and cost of hard goods from some of their favorite brands — and strategizing how to maintain stock levels and current pricing for as long as possible.
“Our toys are 75% from China,” said Patty Dill, owner of Doggie Sweets in Long Branch, NJ. “I stocked up to hold us over until they figure it out.”
As the governments involved negotiate, manufacturers such as 3TBrands, maker of Tall Tails and Territory brands of toys, beds and other products made in China, are prioritizing clear communication with their retail partners.
“Retailers are asking questions, and we’re committed to transparency — keeping them informed with regular updates and strategic insights,” said 3TBrands CEO and President Joel Kaplan. He shared the company’s status: “Today, based on the current policy set at 10%, and assuming there are no unexpected logistics disruptions, thanks to cooperation with our supply-chain partners, we are maintaining our current pricing and are well positioned to be in-stock to support our distributor and retail partners’ needs over the coming months. If the tariff is long-lasting and/or the net effects on total costs increase beyond this 10% range, we will need to have some price adjustment as the economics are not sustainable. Fortunately, our deep strategic relationships with our factory partners have proven to offer resilience to minimize the impact on our customers.”
Fluff & Tuff owner and President Ellen Lawson also pointed to the strong relationships her toy company has built and how that will help provide stability during this time.
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“With so much changing quickly, it is challenging to say exactly what the future of pricing or availability will be. What I can say, though, is that we will conduct our business as we always have over the last 15 years — with complete transparency and with our retailers in mind. We strive to be a very fair partner and will do our best to control what we can,” she said. “It’s always my goal to provide consistency for our partners — as there may be outside events out of our control, though, if there was ever a chance we would need to modify our current pricing, I would give our retailers ample notice. Currently, I have no plans to make any changes to our pricing this year.”
Lawson provided an update, as well, that not all of the company’s toys come from Chinese factories today.
“We have a significant amount of our manufacturing already located outside of China. We began moving a small amount to our manufacturer’s sister factory outside of China in 2017 and have slowly increased that amount. We currently produce more there [in another factory in Asia] than we do in China, and it is all managed by our original, family-owned manufacturing partner. We can shift the majority of our production there at any time.”
Independent pet retailers also have voiced concerns about how tariffs may impact the cost and sales of pet products made in the U.S., on top of ongoing competition with online-only stores.
“We only have hard goods that come from China, like toys, leads and collars, beds and crates,” said Claudia Loomis, owner of CB Pet Market in Washington, NJ. “We have already been experiencing a drop in sales in these areas because of continued inflation and price competition from Chewy and Amazon. I’m not sure if we will see an additional blip in sales when a China tariff price increase hits. I am fairly certain that the American-made products we do carry in these categories also will have price increases due to increased demand and if manufacturers are paying a higher price for imported components to make their products. It is just economics.”
Adam Baker, owner of U.S. enrichment toy maker SodaPup, said he welcomes an increase in demand.
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“We are preparing to sell more. All of our products are made in the USA and all of our materials come from the USA, so we do not anticipate price increases nor availability challenges. As Chinese-made products become more expensive, it levels the playing field. Many consumers want to buy American but choose to buy Chinese-made products because they are less expensive. So I think the tariffs will make it easier for consumers to choose American,” he said, but added what the wider impact of tariffs could be on product sales. “The flip side is that total demand may go down as consumers manage their budgets.”
West Paw, based in Montana, also reported stability at this time thanks to an almost entirely U.S. supply chain.
“Tariffs have had very little effect on our suppliers,” said company President Peter Cleary. “Therefore, we have no plans to pass along any price changes to our retailers at this point, nor do we anticipate any disruptions to product availability. As retailers experience availability issues or price increases from Chinese-made products, our primary focus is to provide them with a consistent, timely supply of West Paw products to delight their customers.”
He has had conversations with non-U.S. retailer partners about how tariffs could impact them. “The primary concerns we’ve heard from retailers is from those located outside of the U.S., who may face additional tariffs on USA-made products like ours. At this point, our response is to wait and see how the tariffs are implemented. The tariffs most likely to affect a majority of our international customers are currently paused or not yet announced (like retaliatory tariffs for U.S. goods shipped to Canada, or potential future retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods shipped to the EU, respectively).”
While the tariff on Canadian goods has been paused, food companies in the country continue to communicate and prepare, offering support to U.S. retailers.
Carna4 co-owner and co-founder Maria Ringo shared this statement on behalf of herself and co-owner and co-founder Dave Stauble: “We are standing right beside our retailer partners, defending all of them through this chaos, first and foremost. Yes, we’re getting a lot of calls, and our team is all hands on deck! We’ll be communicating as we get more information. We want to reassure our Carna4 family that Dave and I are in constant talks with our distributor and retail partners to find a way through this together.”
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Ringo relayed what efforts the company has made to keep availability steady and any price increases to retailers minimal.
“That depends on how long the tariffs are in place, but months ago we already started stockpiling many extra months worth of stock in our U.S. warehouse to give us plenty of time to wait this out, hopefully, or make a good decision if tariffs persist. If tariffs persist and we must raise our prices, it will be our first price increase in over two years, and it will be less than you might expect. Canada has negotiated a 30-day pause in U.S. tariffs, so we are hopeful a sensible solution can be agreed upon between our two countries that totally avoids a trade war. We are not leaving our U.S. market and will do everything in our power to keep supply steady.”
Again, preparing for stability remains front and center for Canadian companies FirstMate Pet Foods and Petcurean.
Matt Wilson, general manager of sales and marketing at FirstMate, said, “We are closely monitoring the pending tariffs between Canada and the U.S. While we recognize the potential impact on the pet food industry, we remain committed to a thoughtful and measured approach. Our focus is on ensuring stability for our customers and partners, and we will continue to evaluate any necessary adjustments with careful consideration.”
And Petcurean shared its approach in a company statement: “We are continuing to actively monitor this very fluid situation. We are taking immediate actions and making longer-term plans to mitigate potential impacts tariffs may have on our valued customers on both sides of the border. Our purpose is to give dogs and cats happier, healthier and longer lives, and we remain committed to that. We do not expect any changes to the availability of our nourishing recipes that our family of Petcurean pets and pet parents have come to rely on and love.”
We will continue to update this story as the situation evolves. If you are a pet product manufacturer impacted by these tariffs, you can share company updates via editor@petsplusmag.com.
