Business owners in the Austin area continue to wonder what’s next after months of figuring out how tariffs affect their bottom lines.

AUSTIN, Texas — On Monday, all three major Wall Street markets saw deep drops as investors feel uncertain about tariffs and artificial intelligence.

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump said he would place temporary 15% tariffs on other countries, up from the 10% he announced on Friday.

The new tariffs could last up to 150 days, unless Congress extends it further.

Business owners in Austin continue to wonder what’s next after months of figuring out how tariffs affect their bottom lines.


Framing company navigating changes

Natasha McRee spends her day at Wexel Art making sure works of arts have proper displays. 

“We started as an acrylic frame company and it was born out of my frustration for not having a good way to display kids art and family photos in a way that you could update and change,” McRee said. 

In the past year, McRee said what frustrated her more were the changes to economic policy. 

“When the tariffs were announced, we were importing everything from China and we really had to scramble,” McRee said. 

In 2025, Trump enacted tariffs on certain countries by invoking the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

McRee said she kept customers and staff in mind while navigating the growing cost of business. 

“It has been a roller coaster ride. It has been really hard to focus on building our business when we’ve had to be so reactive without having any warning or notice that these were coming down the pipeline,” McRee said. 


Furniture store hoping for relief

Hank Cravey, owner of World Interiors in Austin, said he had to do the same. 

“We were holding out hoping that, you know, we wouldn’t have to raise the prices further, and sure enough it looks like now the Supreme Court’s come through for us and and we’re going to see some relief,” Cravey said. 

On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled most of the president’s tariffs are illegal. Now, the White House announced other global tariffs under a different part of the law. In the meantime, American companies are trying to get reimbursed for what they already paid. 

“Now hopefully if we can get some refund that would be really helpful,” Cravey said. 

“These are small. You know, independently owned Texas based companies that employ Texans, and it would make a real difference to our bottom line and theirs to get that right,” McRee said. 

Both McRee and Cravey wonder if they too will get a cut.Â