Imports have 'never been more complicated' — 'thanks to Trump'

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks on tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 2, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

Tariffs have been one of, if not the most defining policies of Donald Trump's second presidency, setting import taxes well above historic levels and constantly shifting response to market pressures. Lower-end businesses reliant on imports face an especially daunting task, putting a new spotlight on the job of customs broker, outlined in a new profile from the Washington Post that declared "thanks to President Donald Trump’s ever-changing tariffs, importing merchandise has never been more complicated.

The piece offers a glimpse into the newly fraught world of customs management via Alba Wheels Up, a customs broker business run by Salvatore Stile II that serves clients as high-profile as Vera Wang and Botticelli. According to the business owner, the sheer scale and ever-growing complexity of Trump's tariffs have become difficult for companies to manage on their own, with stricter penalties for not following the rules and the possibility of overpaying making the stakes higher than ever.

“This was the ‘aha’ moment," Stile said. "This was an industry where importers looked down on customs brokers. They thought they were guys that made it despite themselves. That has been substantially transformed. I’ve never seen an environment like this.”

Stile and his staff's comments about the shift in his business paint a picture of the havoc Trump's tariffs unleashed on U.S. business. A branch manager for the company said that "puzzled" questions from their many clients are about five times more common on a daily basis now due to confusion over tariffs. Stile also explained how his company has resorted to using AI programs to sift through thousands of import transactions to check for flubs or inconsistencies, things that might now see their clients hit with heavy punishments from the government.

"Today’s bewildering tariff landscape is testing Alba Wheels Up and its competitors," the report explained. "Since January, the president has threatened, imposed, raised, reduced or eliminated tariffs on virtually all U.S. trading partners and several specific industrial sectors. All told, Trump has issued nearly three dozen tariff-related executive orders and proclamations."

Stile's business has a particular focus on small-to-medium sized businesses that need help navigating tariffs and lack the resources of major companies. This became especially true in August to eliminate the "de minimis" exception for customs, which allowed imports costing less than $800 to slide through customs without tariffs. Aside from hurting small businesses, this also inflicted tariff-driven inflation directly on consumers buying from cheap overseas marketplaces like Shein and AliExpress.

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