U.S. President Trump’s import tariffs created a climate of fear and uncertainty among American customers, entrepreneur Robin Kuijpers told VRT News. A year after “Liberation Day”—the day Trump proposed new tariffs on foreign imports into the US—Flemish companies saw their U.S. market shrink or disappear and began searching for new markets. “But the American market is much bigger than anything that can replace it,” says entrepreneur Ingeborg.
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Liberation Day one year on: Flemish companies struggle to replace lost US custom (VIDEO)
A year ago was “Liberation Day” in the United States. It was the day on which U.S. President Donald Trump announced new import tariffs on foreign imports for the entire world. These import tariffs are taxes that the U.S. imposes on goods imported from outside its borders.
What followed was a period of chaos and uncertainty for the global economy. In February, the U.S. supreme court decided to scrap those import tariffs.
But despite that decision, uncertainty remains, also among Flemish companies. Figures from Flemish export and investment agency “Flanders Investment & Trade” show that Flemish companies saw exports to the U.S. drop by 21.6 percent. This amounts to a loss of 5.7 billion euros. This is a blow that is hitting small and medium-sized companies, SMEs, the hardest of all, the agency says.
Of the 5,617 Belgian companies that export to the U.S., 92 percent are SMEs. The small businesses organisation Unizo conducted a study on how SMEs are trying to maintain their position in the market.
“Fifteen percent of those companies have cut costs since the import tariffs were imposed,” says Bart Buysse. “Eleven percent tried to renegotiate prices, and 14 percent actively sought out new markets. The most concerning figure relates to investments. Forty percent of all SMEs indicate they will not be able to invest in the coming months.”
Ingeborg of AncientVintageBeads lost 70 percent of her customers
14 percent of Flemish SMEs are looking for new markets. That includes the Antwerp bead shop AncientVintageBeads, owned by Ingeborg D’hoker. Since 2002, she and her husband have been selling antique and vintage beads, mainly to jewellery designers and collectors.
Before “Liberation Day,” 70 percent of her customers were from the United States. “I mainly sell beads from Africa, and there’s a strong connection between the U.S. and Africa. That’s why the market in the U.S. quickly grew larger than that in Europe,” Ingeborg told VRT NEWS.
For years she had a strong customer base in the U.S., until Trump imposed import tariffs. “From one day to the next, even from one hour to the next, that market came to a complete standstill. I lost about 70 percent of my customers.”
According to Ingeborg, it was mainly a panic reaction. “I had a lot of customers who mostly placed smaller orders, ranging from 50 to 150 euros. Due to import duties and fixed administrative costs, the price of an order could easily double. So I can understand why that business would grind to a halt.”
Ingeborg temporarily offered a 20 percent discount so that American customers wouldn’t feel the price increase. But due to additional costs, she had to cover the shipping expenses herself.
“At first, you had to ship packages via DDP, where I paid all import duties for the customer. Those costs were so unpredictable that I had a hard time covering them and had to chip in myself.”
And then there was another problem. “When I ship an order through the Etsy platform, the customer receives an email about taxes they have to pay. A year later, it still comes as a surprise to some customers and they refuse to pay. Because the package is then returned, I have to pay shipping costs twice.”
“Afterwards, the customer claims via Etsy that they didn’t receive the package, which means I have to pay Etsy again. Then it becomes a total loss.”
In her latest effort to help customers, she launched a “start a box” system. “For loyal customers, I kept track of orders while waiting for the situation to normalise. Every 3 to 4 months, I would then ship an order, so the costs only had to be paid once. That helped a little.”
A year later, the number of orders from the U.S. has dropped significantly. “Weekly sales used to be large, but now they've dropped to a minimum. That amounts to thousands of euros in losses per month. Those customers aren't coming back.”
In the meantime, she’s started to focus more on the European market. “But that’s not such a big market as the American. The American market is much larger, and they used to buy in larger quantities.”
Despite the significant loss, Ingeborg remains calm. “I’ve learned that the situation can change from one hour to the next. A few years ago, I would have panicked, but now I think: we’ll see. It’s become so unpredictable. We’re waiting for the end of Trump’s term, and then things might start moving more smoothly again.”
Robin van Lennertson sees American willingness to pay extra costs
Robin Carlo Kuijpers and Robin Todde launched the Lennertson shoe brand from Genk (Limburg) four years ago. Their online store was an immediate success. Since then, their market has grown to include customers from 30 different countries, with the U.S. being a major player.
“Flanders and the United States take turns as our largest market,” Robin Kuijpers tells VRT NEWS. “American consumers have an ear for our brand, because online shopping is part of the culture.”
“As a direct-to-consumer company, we sell directly to customers through our online store. At first, we weren’t subject to those new import tariffs. Still, we saw our sales drop immediately. The political turmoil caused by the Trump administration created a climate of fear and uncertainty.”
After “Liberation Day”, the company experienced a period of volatility. “The decline of the U.S. dollar didn’t help either, making our shoes in euros more expensive for American customers.”
“After the de minimis exemption was abolished, at the end of the day, our customers had to pay extra on account of the new import tariffs. Today, the American customer pays around $100 extra for a pair of shoes. We can’t absorb these costs ourselves; otherwise, it becomes unprofitable.”
Still, Lennertson sees customers from the US returning. “The current clarity regarding costs is contributing to a bit of a recovery. We’re noticing that American customers are willing to pay extra. Though any US economic turmoil continues to affect our sales.”
For now, the situation for his company seems under control says Robin. Though he is eager to raise a further issue. “We’ve noticed that because of this whole situation, customs and courier companies aren’t quite sure where they stand.”
“They act like cowboys and do whatever they please. They don’t apply the laws consistently. Sometimes they charge extra fees, sometimes they don’t. Often, they charge an import tax on a return shipment, even though we shouldn’t have to pay import taxes on it because it’s our own property. Those are additional costs as well.”
Although Lennertson still has a U.S. market, over the past year the company has also started focusing on other markets, including Germany. “But the reality is that Europe is not an integrated consumer market. There is a significant cultural difference. A German won’t just order something from a Belgian website.”
“American consumers, on the other hand, have a deeply ingrained culture of ordering online. We see results in other markets, but nowhere near enough to replace the American market. We will always continue to serve American customers in one way or another.”
Flemish companies, it appears, are indeed trying to find new markets for their products and services. But filling the shoes of lost American customers is proving difficult after all.