WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Small business owners in the Historic Valley Junction held a press conference on Tuesday morning to highlight how tariffs have hurt their businesses.

“The biggest concern for me is the cost increase that I’m having to pass on to consumers. And then not knowing if I’m going to get merchandise and how much merchandise is going to cost me,” said Val Veiock, the owner of Bing’s. “It’s extremely chaotic, it’s hard to keep track of.”

The owners speaking to members of the media to outline how the unpredictability of these tariffs are impacting a firm bottom line. Veiock said that the business usually hires seasonal staff, students who are out of school for the summer, but this year the business is not.

“We’re also on a hiring freeze as well too,” said Meredith Wells, co-owner of MoMere. “So we’re making do with our team….for instance we had a dress that we ordered back in March and arrived in early March, we bought the same dress just in a different color that arrived last week and it’s $10 more than the other dress. So customers are like ‘it’s the same dress, just a different color’. This dress has tariffs, this one does not.”

Wells and Veiock said that preparing for the holiday season has become a nightmare as both businesses have tried to get as much stock in back in January; but suppliers have been fluctuating price points as tariffs are added or retracted. Suppliers have told them both that costs could go up in a range from 10-30%.

Wells said her business’ stock relies on 75-80% of goods from overseas. Veiock said Bing’s gets about 80% of the store’s products from overseas.

The President of the Iowa Farmer’s Union also spoke at the press conference, showcasing how small family farms are being impacted while buying and selling.

“Our input costs are continuing to go up because of it and unfortunately for what we sell other countries are putting a retaliatory tariff on us,” said Aaron Lehman, who is also a farmer. “It means it’s hard for us to sell our product at the cost it costs us to produce it. So we’re more likely to sell for a loss because other countries have retaliated against us.”

The group is asking for help from Iowa’s Congressional delegation, asking the elected officials to take back congressional authority over the use of tariffs.