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Krista Vasquez had her heart set on getting married in a body-hugging, halter-style gown from Spain. In April, the Atlanta paramedic learned her dream dress would cost nearly $300 more because of new U.S. tariffs on imported goods. With little wiggle room in her timing, the bride-to-be quickly checked around for similar styles. The story was the same: Any dresses from Europe would come with tariff-driven price increases ranging from $150 to $400. And that was before President Donald Trump said he would increase the tariff on goods produced in the European Union from 10% to 50%. Vasquez, 33, went with her first choice, fearing shipping delays or additional costs like a rush fee before her October wedding if she placed an order elsewhere. It’s already expensive enough to get married, she said. It just kind of made me a little sad.” Wedding cakes, decor, attire, flowers, party favors, photo and video equipment, tableware, wine and Champagne. Not many goods used in the wedding industry remain untouched by the tariffs Trump has imposed since returning to office. How much of the import taxes get passed down to consumers is up to florists, photographers, caterers, and myriad other vendors and intermediaries, such as wholesalers. Olivia Sever, a 28-year-old online content creator in San Diego, has a lot of wedding shopping ahead of her. Much of what she wants may cost more because of tariffs. An immediate concern is some of her paper goods. Her wedding planner has already flagged a 10% price increase for the menus, place cards, and signage she wanted for her September celebration in Hawaii. Sever said shifting to American goods isn’t always cost-effective. For instance, flowers grown in Hawaii are in high demand, with increased prices to match, in response to 10% tariffs imposed on a large number of imports around the world. That includes flowers from Ecuador, Colombia, and other countries that grow the bulk of the flowers the U.S. imports. There’s just so many unknowns, but we have our budget and were trying to work within our budget, Sever said. If that means we cant get these, you know, specific shell cups I want, then we just wont get them and well get something else. Here’s a look from inside the wedding industry on tariffs. Tariffs and the wedding cake industry Clients of Phoenix cake artist Armana Christianson pay roughly $750 to $800 for one of her creations. She spent two years perfecting the 16 flavor combinations she offers. They range from simple vanilla bean, made with vanilla bean paste imported from Mexico, to dark chocolate raspberry with a whipped hazelnut ganache that’s dependent on chocolates and powders from Belgium. Not all of Christianson’s cost woes are tariff-driven. The chocolate industry was already struggling because of a cocoa bean shortage. I’m a small business with just myself as my employee. I’ve seen at minimum a 20% increase in just the chocolate I use. It’s a type of chocolate that I’ve built into my recipes. Changing brands isn’t acceptable, Christianson said. The imported white chocolate in her white chocolate mud cake, a popular flavor, shot up from $75 or $100 per cake to $150. She used nearly 10 pounds of it in a recent order, a cake that had five tiers. Christianson may have to come up with new recipes based on less expensive ingredients. In the meantime, she said, she’s eating the cost of tariffs for clients already on her books. I don’t have it in my contract where I can raise prices for unexpected events like this, she said. Unfortunately, that’s something I have to add to new contracts for my future couples. Tariffs and the wedding dress industry Almost all bridal gowns are made in China or other parts of Asiaand so are many of the fabrics, buttons, zippers, and other materials used, according to the National Bridal Retailers Association. Manufacturing in those countries, where labor generally costs less, has put the price of high-quality bridal gowns within reach for many American families. Retailers and manufacturers say the U.S. lacks enough skilled labor and production of specialized materials to fully serve the market. Skilled seamstresses are hard to find and often come from older generations. The materials that we sell in a bridal shop include lace, beadwork, boning for the corsetry. We dont really make stuff like that in this country. There just arent very many designers who create and put their whole looks together in this nation, said Christine Greenberg, founder and co-owner of the Urban Set Bride boutique in Richmond, Virginia. The designs done here are normally very simple designs. You dont see a lot of American-made gowns that have a lot of detail, a lot of embroidered lace, and thats a really popular wedding gown style, she said. Many designers with gowns labeled “made in the U.S.” still are using imported materials, Greenberg noted. If Trump’s highest tariffs on China are reinstated after a current pause, Greenberg said her small business will pay between $85,000 and $100,000 extra in import taxes this year. For a small, family-owned business that only hosts one bride at a time, this will absolutely lead us and many others to close for good, she said. We can’t buy American when the products don’t exist. Tariffs and the cut flower industry Roughly 80% of cut flowers sold in the U.S. come from other countries. And lots of quality faux flowers are made in China. Colombia is a large supplier of roses, carnations and spray chrysanthemums. Ecuador is another major rose supplier. The Netherlands produces a huge share of tulips and other flowers. In addition, some of the cut greens used as filler in flower arrangements and bouquets in the U.S. are imported. If youre talking about cars and computer chips, theyve got inventory thats sitting there. Its already stateside. Our inventory turns in days, and we saw the impact almost immediately, said Joan Wyndrum, co-founder of the online floral distributor Blooms by the Box. Were all absorbing a little bit, but its inevitable that it comes out on the consumer end of it. Wyndrum, who works drectly with wholesalers and growers, said the U.S. flower industry isnt capable at the moment of absorbing all the production from elsewhere. She does a lot of business with U.S. suppliers, though, and sees a huge opportunity for growth stateside. Theres a benefit to the U.S. bride to have flowers grown here. Its the simple reason of freshness, she said. Tariffs and the wedding industry overall Jacqueline Vizcaino is a luxury wedding planner and event designer in Atlanta. She’s also national president of the Wedding Industry Professionals Association, a 3,500-member, education-focused trade group whose members include transportation and photo booth providers, makeup artists, caterers, linen distributors, and planners. Any one wedding may involve 40 or more vendors, Vizcaino said. Huge jumps in costs are already widespread due to tariffs, she said, with florals and fabrics among them. With many weddings planned up to a year or more in advance, she and others in the industry are girding for more bad news. We’re going to see a lot of interactions that aren’t so pleasant in the next eight to 12 months,” she said. Tariffs have delayed decision-making among many couples planning weddings. Decisions are taking double the time because of the uncertainty. People are shopping around more and wanting [vendors] to lock in at the lowest price possible, Vizcaino said. McKenzi Taylor, a planner who coordinates weddings in Las Vegas, San Diego, and the Black Hills in South Dakota, said: Our inquiry-to-booking window has grown from 40 days to 73. Cancellations are up so far this year, on pace to double from last year, with costs definitely being a concern for couples. My vendors are shaking in their boots. By Leanne Italie, AP lifestyles writer
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Early in my career, I was a loan underwriter at a bank. I was responsible for training a new employee, one with very little banking experience. During the training, she caught something I had missed and asked about it. I was shocked because I considered myself a diligent underwriter. But I quickly realized something: She was better than I was. She had a knack for noticing little abnormalities and was confident enough to point them out. For a moment, I was nervous. We worked at a small bank, and I felt threatened by her skill. But I quickly realized that she was an asset. She could work on the detail-driven parts of underwriting, which freed me up for other work. So I encouraged her to keep learning. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/workbetter-logo.png","headline":"Work Better","description":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more visit workbetter.media.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","colorTheme":"green","redirectUrl":""}} Great leaders dont compete with their teams. Instead, they build teams that complement them and recognize that the entire team is stronger with high-performing people. “No room for ego” A good manager shouldn’t be the smartest person in the room. Strong teams are never built on ego, and when you hire smart people, you get a more innovative team and better outcomes. Keep in mind that smarter can mean different thingstechnical skills, creativity, or subject matter expertise. More than likely, youll hire someone who may be smarter in one area, which will allow you to shine with different skills. That was my experience with the new loan underwriter; I moved on to compliance work, which required some critical thinking skills I had. AI app-building startup Lovable is known for hiring top-tier talent. The company puts its principles right on its careers page, stating that there is no room for ego and that employees amplify each other. As one of the fastest-growing startups in Europe, Lovable has now reached $17 million in annual recurring revenuedue in part, no doubt, to hiring the best and its approach to teamwork. Ideally, you uncover someones potential during the hiring process. Ask questions that might help you determine that someone has the skills you dont have, or might be smarter than you in certain aspects of the job. Look for exceptional problem-solving skills or boundless curiositysigns that a person can take a project and run with it. Let others shine Once you hire them, you have to give your new employees room to do their best work and grow. You should set goals and offer resources, but not micromanage. It will be an ongoing process of giving the employees more responsibility to see how they handle the work. Smart employees will be up to the challenge, and youll gradually transition your own role to other work. Make sure your talented employees feel appreciated. Give them credit publicly and advocate for their growth. They should know that you know how smart and capable they are. You might fear that if you nurture a smart employee, they might eventually outgrow the role. Maybe theyll move to another team or leave the company altogether. Thats a legitimate concern and bound to happen at some point. But you cant hold people back. If employees reach a ceiling within your team, they should move on. Think of yourself as a talent developer, capable of finding and nurturing people in their careers. Thats a skill by itself. And when someone moves on, it creates opportunities for others to rise. {"blockType":"creator-network-promo","data":{"mediaUrl":"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit\/wp-cms-2\/2025\/04\/workbetter-logo.png","headline":"Work Better","description":"Thoughts on the future of work, career pivots, and why work shouldn't suck, by Anna Burgess Yang. To learn more visit workbetter.media.","substackDomain":"https:\/\/www.workbetter.media","colorTheme":"green","redirectUrl":""}}
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U.S. consumer demand for renewable energy continues to grow, with more solar panel capacity installed in 2024 than in 2023, which saw more than in 2022. But U.S. trade policy is in flux, and high tariffs have been imposed on imported solar panels, which may cause shortages. I am a scholar who studies the Sun, as well as an entrepreneur who is working to harness its power here on Earth by creating new designs for generating solar electricity. As part of that effort, Ive studied market trends and manufacturing capabilities in the U.S. and abroad. Right now, U.S. manufacturers do not produce enough solar panels to meet the nations demand, but industry investments and federal tax incentives have been making progress, though recent federal moves have created uncertainty. In 2024, U.S. installers put up enough solar panels to generate 50 gigawatts of electricityenough to power New York City for a year. U.S. manufacturers made only a small fraction of that4.2 GW of solar modules in the first half of 2024. That was a big boost, thougha 75% increase compared with the same period in 2023. And the prices were roughly three times the cost of imports. A look at recent imports In 2024, the U.S. imported far more panels than the country needed, suggesting developers may be stockpiling panels for future projects. Most of those imported panels were made in Asia, particularly Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. In fact, nearly all of the U.S.-made panels used at least some components from overseas. China currently makes about 97% of the worlds supply of photovoltaic wafers, which are building blocks of solar panels. The effects of proposed U.S. trade policies on the solar industry remain unclear. Through 2024, manufacturing continued a yearslong ramp-up to take advantage of government policies favoring domestic manufacturing. And imported panels seem slated to suffer from ever-increasing tariffs, which drive up costs. Domestic production rises Since 2010, U.S. solar panel production has increased about eightfold. But U.S.-made panels are more expensive than imported alternatives. In 2024, U.S.-made panels typically cost 31 cents per watt, but imported panels, even including tariffs that existed before President Donald Trumps second term, cost about one-third of that: 11 cents per watt. But domestic manufacturers are bringing costs down by ramping up production while relying on the government to maintain or increase tariffs on imports, which may make U.S. panels more competitive domestically in the future. Reliance on overseas sources Despite that increase in domestic production, U.S. demand for solar panels has grown even faster. To meet demand, the U.S. imports a substantial portion of its solar photovoltaic modules. Tariffs, including a 30% tariff on solar cells and solar panels starting in 2018, aimed to boost domestic manufacturing. But those tariffs and falling global prices made solar installations more costly in the U.S. than in the rest of the world. The average global cost of installed solar systems dropped from $1.15 per watt in 2012 to $0.72 per watt in 2016, nearly half that of U.S. installations. The 2018 tariffs, as well as earlier rounds in 2012 and 2014, have shifted the source of U.S. imports of solar panelsfrom China and Taiwan to Malaysia and South Korea. Manufacturers are also building solar panels in Singapore and Germany to maintain access to the U.S. market. And Chinese companies are even investing in U.S. solar manufacturers to take advantage of federal incentives and avoid tariffs. New tariffs emerge Trumps proposal for new tariffs on foreign-made solar goods, including panels and components, particularly target Chinese-owned companies in Southeast Asia. They could include a potential 375% tariff on Thai productsnearly quadrupling prices and a 3,500% tariff on products from Cambodia. In contrast, U.S.-made solar panels will be cheaper. But a reduced supply of solar panels will raise prices even of domestic-made panels, at least until U.S. manufacturing can catch up with the demand. Some developers have begun to delay or cancel solar installations to address rising costs. Domestic investment Due in large part to the Biden administrations Inflation Reduction Act, enacted in 2022, the U.S. solar panel industry has seen significant investments. Since the laws enactment, more than 95 GW of manufacturing capability have been added across the solar supply chain in the U.S., including new facilites that in a year can construct enough solar panels to produce nearly 42 GW, beyond existing manufacturing levels. This growth in manufacturing capabilities is largely located in Texas and Georgia. Still, the new administrations shifting priorities and trade policies make the landscape uncertain. Before Trump began discussing various solar-related trade policies, the industry projected it would install an average of 45 GW of solar panels every year for the next decade. Mojtaba Akhavan-Tafti is an associate research scientist at the University of Michigan. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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