If not for the trade war between the world’s two largest economies, Easy Signs would now be hiring dozens of workers at its factory in Allentown, Pa. It would be readying plans to build a second plant somewhere out West — Salt Lake City was a contender — generating another 100 jobs.
Based in Australia, Easy Signs manufactures banners and marketing installations for corporate events, using huge printers to press logos and slogans onto rolls of cloth. Its American business has been growing 70 percent a year. Still, the company is putting off an expansion.
Its cloth signs are displayed on aluminum stands made in China. Those products are now subject to a series of tariffs reaching as high as 365 percent under a policy set in motion by former President Donald J. Trump and continued by the Biden administration in the name of protecting American industry from Chinese government subsidies.
The costs of imported components could increase further should Mr. Trump win November’s presidential election and follow through on his threat to add a tariff of 60 percent or more on all Chinese goods, and 10 percent to all imports.
“That’s definitely a scary concept,” said Andy Fryer, co-founder of Easy Signs. “The whole feasibility goes out the window.”