US tariffs put pressure on e-commerce merchants

The trade tariffs announced earlier this year by US President Donald Trump came into effect in early August. Some are the result of negotiations – e.g. those imposed on the EU and the UK – while levies on important partners such as China and Mexico are still not finalized. Brazil faces one of the highest rates.

Living in uncertain times

A survey conducted by Talker Research between May and June investigated the impact of months of uncertainty about the direction of the whole tariff policy.

The findings show that almost 8 in 10 e-commerce merchants are concerned about its effect on their businesses in the next 6 to 12 months.

This data was drawn from 800 e-commerce merchants across Brazil, Mexico, the UK and the US.

Prices on the frontline

The results of the survey reveal growing pressure on prices, especially in emerging countries. More than half of the online merchants surveyed fear the impact on product pricing: 30% have already increased prices and 34% expect to increase them soon.

But the effect could be even greater in the near future, as another third of the respondents say they are holding prices while following the policy outcomes closely.

Data from research platform DataWeave shows a persistent increase in the prices of products sold by Amazon in the wake of the tariffs. Analysis of Amazon Prime Day 2025 results reveals price pressure, particularly in export-dependent categories such as electronics and home goods.

This has also spilt over into the pet category. Speaking to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Israel Maynard, COO of dog crate producer DIGGS, says that they’ve had to raise prices twice and are looking at sourcing options outside China.

Supply chain maneuvering

Retailers have felt logistical effects too, with 73% of the Talker survey respondents reporting that tariffs have disrupted or delayed their supply chain, sometimes significantly.

But although prices have been or will be affected, the expected impact on business operations overall is not entirely and uniformly negative.

For example, only 14% of the respondents are not confident in their ability to meet revenue or sales forecasts over the next 2 quarters.

The Talker Research data also shows a possible regional shift in activities. More than 7 out of 10 (72%) respondents from Brazil, Mexico and the UK say they’re exploring alternatives such as reinforcing their presence in local markets or shifting to intra-regional suppliers.

The same proportion of UK e-commerce leaders (70%) intend to source more from Europe to offset trade uncertainty, although this is less the case in Brazil and Mexico (over 40%).

Emerging markets hit hardest

While concerns are widespread, the nature of the effects felt by traders in the countries surveyed is quite different.

For example, the emerging markets of Mexico and Brazil record the most negative responses and least positive ones to the question: “Has the current tariff environment positively or negatively affected your business?”

Both countries also have the highest share of respondents exploring alternative markets outside the US – 69% in Brazil and 67% in Mexico.

Tariff pressures also hit these countries’ currencies earlier this year, with the Mexican peso and the Brazilian real registering a continuous fall against the US dollar, according to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). This, in turn, put pressure on the price of imported goods, contributing to negative business sentiment and price increases.

Finding the positives

Interestingly, a bigger portion of US and UK traders say the tariffs have already had a positive impact on their businesses (45% and 46% respectively).

UK merchants are also less concerned than their Latin American counterparts about the long-term implications of the tariffs. The US has imposed tariffs of only 10% on some UK imports – a much lower rate compared to other countries.

US merchants have demonstrated that there are alternative options. Although more than half of their products are subject to tariffs, they intend to pass on an average 51% of the additional costs to customers.

They also report having diversified their product sourcing strategies in the past 12 months, with this divided between Latin American (Mexico and Brazil) and Asian (Vietnam, India, Taiwan, Singapore and Indonesia) partners.

On the other hand, based on the survey findings it appears that Mexican e-commerce merchants have a high reliance on the domestic market (61%) and that their product sourcing outside the country focuses almost entirely on Brazil and India.

What does the pet industry think?

The general sentiment across the 4 countries surveyed is being seen in the pet industry too, both in terms of concern and price pressures.

An industry poll among 831 PETS International readers revealed that 72% expect US tariffs to impact their business in the coming months.

Among them, more than half (53%) show concern regarding possible loss of price competitiveness or margin pressures. Other major concerns are higher input or production costs (34%), and delays or volatility in the supply chain (13%).

As a possible response to this, the majority of pet businesses (76%) plan to pass costs on to customers, with only a few intending to switch or diversify suppliers, or to scale back product ranges or volumes (12%).

From those who say they don’t expect the tariffs to have any impact on their operations (28%), the vast majority (92%) attribute this to not directly doing business with affected markets, while others anticipate a diversification of suppliers and markets (8%).

And 58% of them are very confident that they’ll remain protected against the impact of tariffs, with only a few showing a lack of confidence about maintaining a positive financial situation.