Candy King, owner of Hearthlink International and a participant in Small Businesses Against Tariffs, spoke to the VT Digger about tariffs refunds, and the impacts on her bottom line:
Candy King, owner of wood stove vendor Hearthlink International in Randolph, was hard at work Monday morning preparing to file for a refund on tens of thousands of dollars in tariffs that have since been deemed illegal.
Many Vermont businesses like hers could receive similar tariff refunds in the coming months after a new federal system launched Monday — but parts of the process remain uncertain and will likely be protracted.
Though a refund would be helpful for King, it would be a relative “drop in the bucket” compared with her total losses from the recent waves of tariffs, she said. All told, the Trump administration’s tariffs have meant hundreds of thousands of dollars in extra fees and forced layoffs for her company.
But for some Vermont businesses, she said, these refunds could well be “the difference between staying open and not.”