Exclusive: 38 female founders with $800 million in combined revenue ask Trump for small business tariff exemptions: ‘We are unintended collateral damage’

Thirty-eight female founders with a combined $800 million in revenue this morning sent a letter addressed to Trump, Congress, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer asking for tariff exemptions and support for U.S. Small businesses. Allison Luvera and Lauren De Niro Pipher, cofounders of the wine brand Juliet, spearheaded the effort. The letter was signed by founders in food and beverage like Aishwarya Iyer of olive oil brand Brightland and Hannah Cheng of dumpling brand Mimi Cheng’s; in beauty and personal care like Cyndi Ramirez-Fulton of Chillhouse and the cofounders of Dune Suncare; in apparel like Rebecca Minkoff and the cofounders of the Meghan Markle-backed Cesta Collective; and more.

“We are becoming unintended collateral damage in an escalating global trade war,” they write. The letter shares examples of that impact—Juliet, while mostly produced in the U.S., has no viable domestic supplier for a key packaging component and expects costs to rise $200,000 annually. A home cleaning brand says its packaging costs would rise 80%.

The group is asking for three things: tariff exemptions for small businesses below a designated revenue or employee threshold; assessments of tariff impact on small businesses before tariffs are put into effect; and support for transitions to domestic supply chains, including through tax incentives, grants, and technical assistance. “That’s something people are most concerned about,” Luvera says, “if these tariffs go into effect and there is no viable solution domestically, then what happens?” There is precedent for tariff exemptions—although so far Trump’s exemptions are mostly for materials for manufacturing and vaccines.

Luvera, who cofounded Juliet four years ago, started preparing for this effort weeks ago, as the likelihood of tariffs grew firmer. “There’s been a lot of frustration, a lot of anger, and a lot of, quite frankly, panic,” she says of her conversations with founders. She hopes to take advantage of the 90-day pause to have a dialogue about the impact of tariffs on small businesses. While the pause on other tariffs is encouraging, she says for most founders in this cohort China is their biggest concern—and those tariffs haven’t disappeared. At her own brand, which has been in market for two-and-a-half years and has seven figures in revenue, she says current tariffs would see costs increase by 30% and gross product margins reduced by double digits.

“Even an impact to one component or one small part of your packaging could have very real, almost insurmountable impact on your bottom line,” Luvera says of the effects on small businesses. “That’s what we were thinking about when we decided to band together with these other women.”

Emma Hinchliffe
emma.Hinchliffe@coins2day.com

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ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

- Olympic record. For the first time, there will be more female athletes than male athletes competing at the Olympics, with 50.7% women and 49.3% men. This shift is thanks to women’s soccer, which will have 16 teams, while men will only have 12. ESPN

- Proxy push. On Tuesday, the House voted to block a push allowing for proxy voting. But Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.)—who had been leading the bipartisan proxy voting push—made a deal with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) To allow “vote pairing” for new parents. NBC

- Department detail. Kari Lake, senior advisor for the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), is being sent to the State Department, following President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismantle USAGM and its subsidiary, Voice of America (VOA). Lake had previously expressed wanting to use VOA to combat an “information war.” Washington Post

- Film findings. There has been an increase in the number of female film directors over the past decade, according to a new study, up from 8.3% in 2015 in the U.S. To 32.3% last year. And while the proportion of female co-leads and main characters in movies increased from 32% to 54%, only 32% of speaking characters in the films surveyed were women. Variety

MOVERS AND SHAKERS

GE HealthCare (No. 206) appointed Jeannette Bankes as president and CEO, patient care solutions. Most recently, Bankes was SVP and president, global franchises at Alcon.

The Hollywood Reporter named Lori O’Connor EVP and publisher. She was previously the entertainment media company’s SVP of entertainment, digital sales, and strategy. 

Early-stage venture capital firm Graham & Walker hired Ryan Hughes as chief of staff. She was previously an analyst at Goldman Sachs.

Oyster, an employment platform, appointed Geraldine MacCarthy as chief revenue officer and Marina Farthouat as VP of people. Previously, MacCarthy was chief revenue officer at Personio, and Farthouat was VP of people at ClickHouse.

Found, a weight loss company, named Deepa Ravikumar SVP of clinical strategy and Brynna Pietz SVP of operations. Previously, Ravikumar was VP of clinical practice at Ro, and Pietz was VP of clinical operations and head of strategic operations at Rula.

WSP, a professional services firm, appointed Lisa Thompson as SVP, advisory and planning business development director. Most recently, Thompson was VP and national practice consultant at HNTB.

ON MY RADAR

Bluesky’s quest to build nontoxic social media New Yorker

Is the Yokossance finally here? New York Times

It’s Lauren Santo Domingo’s world. You can live in it too Washington Post

PARTING WORDS

“Energy is flowing when you’re happy to be where you want to be, when you’re happy with where you are, because you made a choice to be there.”

— Actor Hilary Swank on intentionality