We haven’t seen many businesses jack up prices in response to the president’s tariffs so far this year. One of the most important reasons why is that business owners are worried about how their customers would react, because raising prices can make a business less competitive. They might lose market share.

But there are also all kinds of other reasons business owners don’t raise prices, even when they want to. Right now, many business owners face a number of obstacles that can make it harder for them to hike prices.

Wolf Tooth Components is a manufacturer in Minnesota that makes bike parts. It manufactures about 1,700 unique parts, ranging from clamps, levers, and spacers to gears, pedals, and seatposts. Almost all of them are made out of aluminum.

“We do have some molded parts, we have some rubber parts, but aluminum is the primary because it’s both lightweight and strong,” said co-owner Brendan Moore.

And these days, aluminum is also more expensive because of the president’s 50% import tax on the metal. But Wolf Tooth Components hasn’t raised any of its prices so far this year. Moore said that’s partly because he doesn’t want to upset his customers — but it’s also because raising prices is a ton of work.

“Getting all of the different dealers, which in the U.S. we probably sell through 3,000 or 5,000 dealers, and getting everybody to change their pricing is a huge task,” Moore said.

Part of the reason is that the company sells so many kinds of parts, Moore said.

“Every individual product that you change a price on, you need to first of all figure out what that price is going to be, and make sure it’s competitive,” he said. “You have to send that to all your partners, so they get it out to all the channels, make sure the channels are updated, and then follow up.”

Moore said he has to follow up because some of the retailers that sell his products tend to drag their feet with price hikes. After all, it doesn’t hurt to be the last dealer selling stuff at the old, lower price.

So, Moore’s company ends up spending months prodding them.

“And then we hear back, ‘But these guys haven’t changed their price,’” he said. “And we’re like ‘Yeah, yeah, we’re talking to them too, it’s coming.’ And so it’s just a whack-a-mole situation where you’re just contacting each customer.”

For other companies, raising prices can require a lot of manual labor.

“Think about all those little sticky price tickets on something,” said Rob Donohue, CEO of David Donahue, a men’s apparel brand. “Think about having to get those off.”

Donohue also decided to avoid price hikes this year, even though he’s paying higher tariffs on the clothing he imports from Vietnam. He said he didn’t want to have to pay warehouse employees to sit there with X-Acto knives peeling off price stickers. He also didn’t know what price he’d put on the new stickers, since the president’s tariffs have been all over the place.

“Was it going to be, in our case, from Vietnam, 20%?” Donohue said. “Or was it going to be 46%, where they started? We didn’t know.”

Donohue said he plans to raise prices next year on his spring items. He said he hopes tariff policy will be more stable by then. And waiting for the new season will be a lot more straightforward, for both his company and the stores it sells to.

“For the retailer, they can say, ‘OK great, you know what, everything we received through fall of ‘25 is at the old price. Spring of ‘26, and going forward, is at the new price,’” Donohue said.

Relationships between businesses can be another obstacle to hiking prices.

“Think of it like dating, right? When you’re dating someone, and you have some bad news to share with them, you want to hold off until that relationship develops a little further,” said Sophie Blake. She runs a jewelry company that sells rings, necklaces, earrings, and other items that are made in India.

A couple of months ago, Blake struck a deal to sell jewelry through a big online wholesaler. But just days later, President Trump hiked his tariffs on India to 50%.

Blake said she really doesn’t want to go back to the wholesaler and try to re-negotiate.

“This relationship that I was building with this partner, this has been a relationship that’s been in the works for two years,” she said. “So to unwind all those two years of work would be really tough for me.”

So Blake’s prices — through the wholesaler — will stay the same. She said her profits are taking a hit, but her strategy at the moment is to just make sure the launch goes well.

“Let me build this relationship, solidify it, and then we can go back to the negotiating table with our partner and discuss pricing again,” Blake said.

Blake added that if she can prove to the wholesaler that her products sell, she’ll have more leverage when she eventually has to raise her prices.

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