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Karl Brown founded Pretzel Pete in 2012, building the company partly through exports that now make up around half of the company’s sales.

Brown, who has served as president of SB Global Foods for three decades, said “there is so much opportunity overseas that I think a lot of American companies miss.”

“Any kind of consumer brands that are made in the United States require and demand and receive a premium due to the goodwill and the value that consumers overseas see in the ‘made in America’ brand,” he said.

Pretzel Pete also relies on imports for ingredients that are “impossible” to source domestically.

However, President Donald Trump’s implementation of broad — and sometimes haphazard — tariffs through the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, had an “immediate impact” on the company, Brown said, making those imports more costly and even “prohibitive” in some cases.

Brown also worried other countries would soon enact their own retaliatory tariffs, concerned that would lead to decreases in profits and possibly even layoffs at his Hatboro-based factory, which employs around 80 people.

But Brown is feeling some relief today, now that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against Trump’s tariff power under the IEEPA.

“It’s a good day,” he said. “It’s a win for small businesses like mine, a major win in and credit to the Supreme Court for stepping up and I think doing the right thing.”

Small businesses paid tariff costs

Pretzel Pete is far from the only local company to be impacted by the recent tariff crisis, with businesses across the board forced to pay more on imports, including manufacturers, restaurants and even coffee shops.

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, the ranking member of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, released a report that found small businesses nationally paid more than $63.1 billion between March 2025 and November 2025 in tariffs, including $1.6 billion from Pennsylvania’s small businesses.

Area Democrats, who long opposed Trump’s tariff policy, applauded the Supreme Court decision.

U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, D-Philadelphia, called it a “win for YOUR wallet!” in a social media post.

“The Constitution is clear- only Congress has the power to levy tariffs and other taxes,” he posted,” adding he co-sponsored legislation to return the power to Congress.