Some small businesses are swearing off tariff price hikes. It's costing them.

Most small business owners expect to charge customers more to cover tariffs, but many are making cuts and other changes to hold prices steady as long as they can.

When Jeremiah Chamberlain and his wife, Harriet, started their 3D-printing business in March last year, tariffs weren’t high on their list of challenges to prepare for.

“We didn’t expect to have this type of panic arise,” said Chamberlain, the owner-operator of Corvidae Creations in Hammond, Louisiana. But in the months since President Donald Trump took office and kicked off a freewheeling global trade war, Chamberlain has spent a few thousand dollars more on 3D printers from China. Chinese-made goods currently face a U.S. tariff rate of at least 30%, down temporarily from 145% just weeks ago.

Chamberlain has already ditched a Chinese supplier after it raised the cost of bulk filament orders from $14.99 to $17.99 per roll. Leaning only on American and Canadian filament vendors has actually saved money, Chamberlain said, allowing him to lower some prices — and the Chinese firms wound up walking back some of their own price hikes anyway. But he’s had to do without certain color options since making the switch.

Corvidae Creations makes colorful toys using 3D printers imported from China.Courtesy Jeremiah Chamberlain“The whole point of it, when we went into the toy production, was to make a durable, affordable toy for families and children,” he said, referring to his lineup of dragons, possums and dinosaurs. “Nothing’s going to make me raise prices unless it’s a matter of me having to shut the business down totally.”

The company is one of many across the country promising not to raise prices on customers despite Trump’s import taxes.