The tea farmer in Japan, the shoe company in Montreal, the chocolatier in Mexico: Small businesses around the world have been roiled by President Trump’s constantly changing trade policies.

从日本的茶农、蒙特利尔的鞋业公司到墨西哥的巧克力生产商，全世界的小企业都被特朗普总统不断变化的贸易政策搅得不得安宁。

The trade rules have upended strategies, prices, logistics and investments as businesses try to both inform and hold on to their U.S. customers. Some small companies, which operate on razor-thin margins, are questioning or pausing their U.S. expansion plans. We spoke to six businesses, from Sweden to Brazil, about how they’re communicating with customers and managing the uncertainty. Here’s what they said.

这些贸易规则打乱了企业的策略、价格、物流和投资计划，各家公司努力向美国客户解释情况，想方设法留住他们。一些利润微薄的小企业正在重新评估或暂缓在美国市场的扩张计划。我们采访了从瑞典到巴西的六家企业，探寻他们是如何与客户沟通并应对当前不确定性的。以下是他们的说法。

For a Swedish designer, sales surged and then slumped.

一位瑞典服装设计师经历了销量的大起大落。

Asket, a Stockholm-based clothing company, emailed its U.S. customers in mid-August warning of possible price increases and the expiring de minimis exemption, which allowed the duty-free entry of merchandise valued at under $800. “It’s not super sexy communication,” said August Bard Bringeus, Asket’s co-founder and chief executive. But it prompted a spending spree, with U.S. sales more than doubling over 10 days.

总部位于斯德哥尔摩的服装公司Asket在8月中旬向美国客户发去电子邮件，提醒可能涨价，以及小额包裹免税政策（价值低于800美元的商品免关税入境）即将到期。公司联合创始人兼首席执行官奥古斯特·巴德·布林格乌斯坦言，“沟通这种事情肯定谈不上愉快。”但这封邮件引发了一波订购潮，美国市场的销售额在10天内翻了一倍不止。

在小额包裹免税政策取消前夕，Asket与Maguire两家企业向客户发出了通知函。

The company has kept prices steady, taking a hit on its margins. “It will probably need to change,” Mr. Bard Bringeus said, adding: “We’ll probably need to increase prices in the future to regain what we’re losing now.” European Union exports to the United States are now subject to a 15 percent tariff.

公司牺牲了部分利润空间，一直保持价格不变。“这种情况恐怕需要改变，”巴德·布林格乌斯说。他还表示：“我们未来可能需要提价，以弥补现在的损失。”目前欧盟对美国的出口需缴纳15%的关税。

The uncertainty has been frustrating. “It’s not like all European brands are going to start manufacturing in the U.S. all of a sudden; it’s impossible,” said Mr. Bard Bringeus.

这种不确定性令人感到沮丧。“欧洲品牌不可能一下子全部转到美国生产，这根本不现实，”巴德·布林格乌斯说。

The United States is one of the Swedish retailer’s biggest markets, but U.S. sales fell in the third quarter, when de minimis ended, and are now down about 20 percent from a year ago.

美国是这家瑞典零售商最大的市场之一，但随着小额包裹免税政策的终止，其第三季度对美销售额出现下滑，目前较去年同期下降约20%。

“I think there’s just a general aversion, probably, toward buying from European brands because you have this notion that you’re going to be hit by tariffs or that your order is going to be charged with customs and duties,” Mr. Bard Bringeus said.

“我认为大家对购买欧洲品牌普遍产生了一种抵触心理，因为你会有这样的印象：你会被征收关税，或者你的订单会被收取各种进口税费，”巴德·布林格乌斯说。

A Canadian shoe seller hits ‘pause’ on U.S. expansion.

一家加拿大鞋企暂停了在美国市场的扩张。

Maguire鞋业的联合创始人米里亚姆·贝尔齐勒-马圭尔在自家的蒙特利尔门店。

Just before the end of de minimis, Maguire, a Montreal-based shoe company, told its American customers that it would ship from its U.S. stores, and encouraged them to order before the loophole closed. A surge in U.S. orders followed.

就在小额包裹免税政策结束前夕，来自蒙特利尔的制鞋公司Maguire告诉美国客户，他们将从美国门店发货，并鼓励他们在政策窗口关闭前下单。美国市场随即出现了订单的激增。

About a week later, Maguire sent another email announcing a price increase. Myriam Belzile-Maguire, its president and co-founder, said that she raised prices between $10 and $30 in both the United States and Canada.

大约一周后，Maguire再度致函客户宣布调价方案。公司总裁兼联合创始人米里亚姆·贝尔齐勒-马圭尔表示，她在美国和加拿大市场都将价格提高了10至30美元不等。

The company has two stores in the United States, its second-largest market, but is waiting before opening more. “I want to wait for a bit more stability,” Ms. Belzile-Maguire said.

尽管美国是它第二大市场且已设有两家门店，但公司决定暂缓新增门店计划。“我想等市场稳定一点再作打算，”贝尔齐勒-马圭尔表示。

A Brazilian coffee grower waits for U.S. customers to return.

一位巴西咖啡种植者正在等待美国客户回归。

After a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian coffee choked off U.S. orders, Ana Cecilia Velloso, whose family owns São Luiz Estate Coffee in Carmo do Paranaíba, Brazil, had planned to skip a San Diego coffee expo to market her beans. Now that those tariffs have been revoked, she’s considering going, but she’s wary. “I need to wait for the C market to settle down,” she wrote in a text, adding: “I’ll wait for my customers to come to me.”

50%的关税壁垒扼杀了美国订单后，在巴西的卡莫迪帕拉纳伊巴，圣路易斯咖啡庄园的主人安娜·塞西莉亚·维洛索一度打算放弃参加圣迭戈咖啡展，推广自家咖啡豆的机会。如今随着关税撤销，她虽重新考虑参展，但仍持审慎态度。“我需要等待C市场（阿拉比卡咖啡期货市场——译注）企稳，”她在短信中写道，另外“我会静候客户的主动回归”。

Before the tariffs were imposed, Mariana Faerron Gutierrez, the founder and chief executive of Tico Coffee Roasters in Campbell, Calif., had planned to import Ms. Velloso’s coffee. “If the tariffs wouldn’t have happened at that level,” she said, “her coffee would be here in my warehouse right now.”

在关税措施实施前，加州坎贝尔市Tico咖啡烘焙工坊创始人兼首席执行官玛丽安娜·法伦·古铁雷斯原计划进口维洛索的咖啡豆。她坦言，“若非当时高额关税的阻碍，这批咖啡现在应该已经存放在我的仓库里了。”

Now, she’s looking to get Brazilian coffee as soon as she can. And while she’s optimistic that tariffs won’t change again this year, she’s cautious. “What is the contingency plan if something changes?” she said. “It might be tariffs again, or it might be something else.”

现在，她正积极寻求尽快采购巴西咖啡豆。尽管对今年关税政策保持稳定抱持乐观，她仍不敢掉以轻心。她说，“如果政策再生变数——可能又是关税，也可能是其他状况，我们的应急预案是什么？”

A Japanese matcha farmer opens a U.S. outpost.

一位日本抹茶农户在美国设点。

Daiki Tanaka, who grows and sells matcha in Japan, meets many of his U.S. customers during tours and tastings at his 10-acre farm, d:matcha, near Kyoto.

在京都近郊约60亩的d:matcha农场里，种植、销售抹茶的田中大贵常年通过参观与品鉴活动接待许多美国客户。

But the end of the de minimis exemption this year meant many of his shipments to the United States now carried a 15 percent tariff. He responded by creating a U.S. subsidiary to import his tea and distribute it, absorbing the tariff for American customers who make up his biggest direct-to-consumer market.

然而随着今年小额包裹免税政策的结束，他发往美国的多数包裹现在都需要缴纳15%的关税。为此他在美国设立了一家子公司，负责茶叶的进口与分销，通过自行吸收关税来维系这个最重要的直营市场。

“The connection is important, so that’s why the tariff thing is really — it makes it a bit more complicated,” Mr. Tanaka said.

“客户纽带至关重要，这就是为什么关税这件事……它会让情况变得有点复杂，”田中说道。

Lauren Purvis, founder of Mizuba Tea Company in Portland, Ore., imported over 20 tons of matcha from small farms and producers in Japan last year. This year, tariffs have cost her over $110,000, Ms. Purvis said, and the trade policy has led to big delivery delays: She had over $120,000 worth of Japanese matcha, shipped in August and September, stuck in Kentucky. She’s still waiting for about half that inventory.

位于俄勒冈州波特兰的Mizuba Tea Company创始人劳伦·珀维斯去年从日本的小农场和生产者那里进口了超过20吨抹茶。她表示，今年的关税成本已超11万美元，而且新的贸易政策导致了严重的交付延误：她有价值超过12万美元的日本抹茶（在8月和9月发货）卡在了肯塔基州。现在，还有约半数没收到。

The Trump administration in recent weeks lifted some tariffs, including those on green tea. But Ms. Purvis wishes they had been more carefully planned from the outset. “All it did was increase costs,” she said. “I think it is hard to shake the feeling of, what was the point.”

尽管特朗普政府近周已取消包括绿茶在内的部分关税，但珀维斯希望政策制定者在一开始就能考量得更为周全。“这些关税除了推高成本别无他用，”她说。“实在难以摆脱这样一种感觉：这到底有什么意义呢。”

A Mexican chocolatier sends customers to Canada.

一位墨西哥巧克力商转战加拿大市场。

Víctor Feliu, who owns Feliu Chocolate in Guadalajara, Mexico, was so confused by the ever-changing rules for trade between Mexico and the United States that he has paused U.S. shipments.

墨西哥瓜达拉哈拉市Feliu巧克力创始人维克多·费利乌坦言，美墨间变幻莫测的贸易规则令他感到困惑，不得不暂停对美发货。

“I’m willing to pay tariffs, and I’m willing to comply with the paperwork,” he said. “But it’s very difficult if rules are changing every few months.”

他表示，“我并非不愿支付关税，也愿意处理相关手续，但如果规则每隔几个月就变一次，就非常困难了。”

While his chocolate bars are not subject to tariffs, he paused U.S. shipments in early September after over a dozen packages were returned because of complications posed by the new rules, which covered things like labeling, more paperwork and registration, he said. It took weeks for Mr. Feliu to track down the new requirements for small shipments. “We’re a small business; no one tells us,” he said.

尽管他公司生产的巧克力棒不需要缴关税，但他说，他在9月初暂停了对美国的发货，因为有十几个包裹因合规问题遭退回，这些新规涉及标签、更多手续以及注册等事项。费利乌花费数周才厘清小额包裹的新规。他说：“我们是小企业，没有人会告诉我们这些事。”

He has suggested that U.S. customers buy his chocolate through a Canadian retailer, and his plans to sell through U.S. shops are on hold.

他建议美国顾客通过一家加拿大的零售商购买他的巧克力，原定进军美国实体店的计划也随之搁置。

For a Danish retailer, mistakes mean money.

对于一家丹麦零售商来说，出错就意味着钱的损失。

Tariff-related errors are proving costly for Cecilie Moosgaard, a co-founder of the Danish accessories retailer Lié Studio.

丹麦配饰零售商Lié Studio的联合创始人塞西莉·莫斯加德发现，与关税相关的错误正造成巨大损失。

“We’re seeing a lot of these mistakes, meaning that our import duties are much higher than they need to be,” Ms. Moosgaard said. On several occasions, she said, Lié Studio handbags shipped to the United States were misclassified as originating from China — and subject to tariffs as high as 25 percent — rather than Portugal, where they were made, which carries a lower tax. The mistakes mean unexpected costs and time spent trying to get a refund — which she’s still waiting for.

“我们犯了很多归类错误，导致进口关税远超应缴额度，”莫斯加德指出。她透露，公司发往美国的手袋被误分类为原产中国——因而面临25%的高额关税——而实际产地葡萄牙的税率要低得多。这些失误不仅带来意外成本，更耗费大量时间申请退税——至今仍在等待退款。

The company, which sells jewelry and handbags online and at U.S. retailers, increased prices for U.S. customers by around 20 percent in mid-August.

这家通过线上渠道及美国零售商销售珠宝手袋的企业，已于8月中旬将对美售价提高了约20%。