Tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada and China are starting to have repercussions — and consumers and businesses in the Triad are sharing their concerns. One local business owner and supply chain expert weigh in about how tariffs could raise the costs for North Carolinians. From furniture and car manufacturing to groceries and breweries, Americans could see costs rise with the new tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. The owner of Wise Man Brewing in Winston-Salem, Mike Beverly, said they have had to deal with tariffs before and this new round might require them to find ways to cut more costs.In 2018, when President Trump imposed tariffs on aluminum and steel, Wise Man brewing started canning their drinks in-house, as a cost-saving measure.“Anybody who drinks beer — or any product in a can — knows those costs did go up last time as well,” Beverly said.He's worried this time around, with more countries on the tariff list, materials they import to make authentic German beers, English ales and Belgian sours will be more expensive. “We want to make very authentic beers, which means we get grains and raw materials to brew our beers from all over the globe," he said. "So, we don’t know where all this is going to shake out.” The aluminum cans and steel kegs they use are purchased from domestic manufacturers who say they get their metal from international sources. Beverly worries this could have a chain reaction effect on their costs as well. “Even if the product was made 100% in America, because of supply and demand, because everybody’s going to be trying to buy from that same domestic supplier, their prices will go up,” he said. While there are some replacements for foreign products, Beverly said the quality of the beers they produced are also made better by imported grains. He's unsure how long it might be until he knows exactly how this could impact his business."We live in a global marketplace, and that's been built since World War II," Beverly said. "To reshape that is going to take years and years, and there will be a lot of pain for small businesses like ours."Another concern is that if tariffs hike prices of every day goods, small businesses like Wise Man, may not have the large customer base they cater to."When prices go up, the first thing that people cut back is discretionary spending and coming out and spending money at restaurants and bars," Beverly said. "Small businesses like ours are the first places people tighten up their spending."And tariffs could affect more than just the price of beer in the Triad.Supply chain experts like Pelin Pekgun, a professor of analytics at Wake Forest School of Business, said tariffs will have broad, sweeping impacts on the entire state. “Mexico, Canada and China were among the top imports-export trade partners of North Carolina," Pekgun said. "Some of the key industries that would be affected like manufacturing and automotive, with steel and aluminum prices increasing, of course that affects the cost of production.” She said businesses have a couple of options to mitigate tariff risk – from scaling back production to purchasing products from domestic sources. However, those options would be more expensive and could mean consumers would have to pay more for goods. “Some companies may be able to absorb tariffs and the increasing cost by tariffs rather than reflecting it on to consumer prices, but this also cuts into the profit margins, so it’s not a sustainable solution in the long term.” As a major exporter of agricultural goods, she says North Carolina could see the demand for their goods decrease. “Pork, tobacco, soybeans, so those are top agriculture products that are exported," Pekgun said. "So if there are also retaliatory tariffs, the demand for North Carolina products will decrease, so that could impact farmer as well.” Beverly said it’s a bit of a game to wait and see exactly how the tariffs will impact his business. Despite possible higher costs, Beverly said they don’t intend to change the quality of their products any time soon and hope they won't have to raise prices of their beers.Subscribe to WXII's YouTube channel hereWatch: NOWCAST streaming newscastsKeep up with the latest news and weather by downloading the WXII appNAVIGATE: Home | Weather | Watch NOWCAST TV | Local News | National | News We Love |