Small business owners like Melkon Khosrovian, the owner of Greenbar Distillery in Los Angeles, are taking a wait-and-see approach after the Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump’s main tariffs on Friday.
And after a punishing year that saw steep levies dent their bottom line, many aren’t expecting rebate checks yet.
“We’re not that confident we’re going to either get the money back or not have to pay a similar amount of tariffs going forward,” Khosrovian told The Post. “I’m dubious.”
Last year, tariffs jacked up the price of glass bottles from China, exotic spices from India and coffee from Brazil for the spiritmaker, who uses the items to make canned espresso martinis.
He said he didn’t raise prices even though tariffs ate up about 20% of the profit margin at the distillery, which he co-founded in 2004 to sell classic liquors and specialty canned cocktails.
In a bid to contain costs over the long run, Khosrovian ordered $400,000 of equipment to automate hard tasks like bottling so he could eventually let go of three of his 15 employees. The equipment is expected to arrive next week.
Those plans could come to naught after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs in a 6-3 ruling, leaving Khosrovian and countless other business owners wondering what’s next.
“The unintended consequence is we have to let go of staff and I’m sure no one wanted that to be the end result of all these tariffs,” he said. “We’re buying equipment from abroad to eliminate jobs in this country. Who wanted that?”
The court’s decision didn’t address the elephant in the room – whether Washington will have to repay the tariff revenue it has collected – and Trump has promised to keep an aggressive tariff regimen in place.
Khosrovian said for now he will continue with his plans to automate certain processes and cut jobs, regardless of the ultimate outcome with the levies.
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