Iconic Tacoma candymaker hit hard by tariffs, losing China business, CEO says
U.S. Sen. Patty Murray was in Tacoma on Wednesday to highlight the effects the global tariff upheaval is having on Pierce County and Washington state trade.
The CEO of Brown & Haley, as well as representatives from the Ports of Tacoma and Seattle and the nonprofit Economic Development Board for Tacoma-Pierce County, participated in a business roundtable held at the Brown & Haley factory in Tacoma.
Murray, a Democrat, told attendees she was there to hear their stories about what they’d experienced.
“Watching it as a senator … and knowing how important trade is and seeing these random (tariff) numbers is really concerning to me,” she said. “Because I know at the end of the day, it’s really a tax on families. They will end up paying it, even though businesses obviously will pay it first.”
Confectioner cites lost export business
Brown & Haley CEO John Melin said the effects of on-again, off-again global tariffs and the high price now to export to China have been nothing short of damaging to his business.
China is a major market for the local candymaker. The country has received the brunt of what the Trump administration has called its “reciprocal” tariffs, with a 145% tariff rate on items imported from China, which China met with 125% tariff on items imported from the United States.
“The current simplistic approach to tariffs has been chaotic, and it’s been really costly for us,” Melin said.
The more-than century-old manufacturer employs 150 people and is known for its Almond Roca candy.
“We sell it across the US. We export to 35 countries in the world,” he said. “That’s a business we’ve nurtured carefully for over 90 years, and a business we depend on..
“And frankly, the current tariffs, it’s cost U.S. export sales, it’s raised costs, and it’s created supply-chain chaos.”
He said, “So far, it looks like these kind of tit-for-tat tariffs will cost us 50% of our export business.”
Melin told Murray that the company is trying to find niche markets to grow domestically, but their China business has run aground.
“Our China business will simply drop to zero because they won’t buy it,” he said. “In fact, the Chinese foreign ministry has instructed people to just not purchase American products, and containers are simply being rejected at ports in China, within China, regardless of the tariff.”
“We’ve been growing that business since 1989. It’s a big business for us,” he added. Melin said his partners in China said they have proposed manufacturing Almond Roca in China if this goes on long term.
“We’re not willing to consider that,” he said. But the challenge of reintroducing a legacy brand to the market, perhaps after two years, “it sets us back 10 years.”
Demand has already dropped to the point the Tacoma factory is not running its normal number of days for this time of year, he said, and was down during Murray’s visit.
“That’s why we’re not running today,” he noted.
Michael Catsi, president & CEO, told Murray that Pierce County businesses stand to lose business to global competitors.
““Pierce County companies like SAFE Boats and SeaTac Packaging are already grappling with the consequences of an increasingly unstable trade environment,” Catsi said. “They rely on dependable global partnerships and consistent policy to fulfill contracts and protect local employment. … It takes time to build out new supply chains, which does not happen overnight.”
He added, “Recent shifts in U.S. foreign policy have constrained longstanding alliances, including close partners like Canada, and these relationships have deep roots and direct ties to many of our businesses and industries in Washington.
“When we alienate our allies, we risk losing not just political goodwill but also market access, supply chain, reliability and investment opportunities.”
Ports see competitive disadvantage with Canada
John McCarthy, Port of Tacoma Commission president and Northwest Seaport Alliance co-chair, said the port is “starting to see a critical push of people trying to beat the tariffs. So we’ve got cars waiting on the dock, for example.”
“We are also starting to see people not having customers to sell,” he added. “We are starting to hear stories of shippers wanting their cargo back.”
He noted that for now, “We don’t know what the long-term effects are going to be,” but given early projections for the year, “we just know it’s very, very serious, with China comprising 50% of our import market.”
Toshiko Hasegawa, Port of Seattle Commission president and Northwest Seaport Alliance co-chair, said the main effects in Seattle have been port congestion and logistical backups as market demand evaporates.
“We support efforts to increase American manufacturing and ship building and increase American jobs and economic prosperity, but if not thoughtfully crafted and implemented, the economic harm and job losses we expect the tariffs to cause will likely outweigh any potential benefits with these measures,” Hasegawa said.
For the Northwest Seaport Allliance, which represents both Seattle and Tacoma ports, Hasegawa said the loss of competitive advantage to Canada is real.
“The primary thing that allows us to be able to compete in the international marketplace for market share is providing best-in-class services,” she said. The risk now is for shippers to divert cargo volumes “away from our harbor and into our near competitor, which is Prince Rupert” in Vancouver, B.C.
As she explained to Murray, “The natural place for them to go would be north.”
She noted that a team of port representatives recently went to Washington, D.C., to urge White House officials to include language in trade policy requiring all U.S.-bound cargo to clear customs at American seaports, with the seaport element an important distinction to help end financial run-arounds using Prince Rupert and then transferring to rail.
Melin also noted the Canada competitive factor further raising the stakes for confectioners such as Brown & Haley.
“Our multinational competitors, the Italians, the Swiss, they simply move their supply to Canada, from the U.S. factory to a European factory,” he said.
He also ticked off assorted issues with his company’s supply chain as a result of higher prices: “Cocoa beans and palm oil and cashews don’t grow in the U.S.” he said. “Thankfully, almonds do. That’s important for Almond Roca.”
As for imported ingredients, “Unpredictable tariffs on ingredients means unpredictable prices,” Melin said. “We need stability, we need common sense, and we need some nuance in the country’s tariff strategy.”
“I think you’ve heard pretty clearly the impacts of this,” Catsi told Murray. “Businesses need certainty when tariff policies are imposed, extended or lifted. Without a clear road map that creates instability, and that uncertainty doesn’t sit just on a balance sheet. It actually hits the factory floor.”
Wednesday’s business roundtable was one of two Tacoma events Murray’s team and local officials organized to highlight federal funding and tariff impacts.
Later Wednesday, the senator toured Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood and met with students, educators and workforce readiness partners to learn more about how the college utilizes federal funding streams to support their students.
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