When DHL delivered mail to Adafruit Industries last week, it wasn’t a typical invoice but a gut punch: a $36,126.46 customs duty bill that had to be paid within seven days.
The bill comes from Trump’s multi-layered tariffs that can stack up to 170% on certain electronics components. For Adafruit, a company that supplies makers and engineers with specialized electronic parts, this creates a perfect storm.
These components were ordered months ago before tariff changes, can’t be sourced elsewhere due to intellectual property restrictions, and must be paid for immediately — not after sales are made.
It’s pretty funny to sell something and then pay more than what the sale was worth to import it. I can see a lot of US businesses getting hurt this way from the volatile auction-based tariff prices (out my ass) by losing customers or having to eat the loss.