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ST. LOUIS — Stringbean Coffee Co. owner Peter Cohen was worried. President Donald Trump had come into office touting sweeping tariffs — a move that could change where Cohen buys his beans and how much they cost.

The roaster typically sources from Peru, Brazil, Indonesia and Africa and coffee is, by necessity, an import. So in March, he secured more credit from his bank and bought months worth of beans.

Then, Trump announced more new tariffs on April 2. If the beans didn’t arrive in the U.S. before they went into effect, he’d have to pay the tax.

Cohen’s unroasted coffee beans made it through ports in time. But he’s worried about what his Brentwood-based business will do after this supply runs out in July.

Since Trump was inaugurated Jan. 20, he has announced rounds of tariffs against lists of countries, then paused some of those and announced others. China has remained a constant target, and that country has retaliated with tariffs of its own against the U.S.

Now, some ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½-area businesses are switching up their plans in response to the tight economy and looming trade wars. But, they say, the on-again, off-again tariffs have made deciding how to invest and plan for the future difficult. Plus, the U.S. companies importing the goods are the ones who shoulder the tariff costs, not the foreign producers.

Trump has argued that his tariffs will help restore U.S. manufacturing, forcing companies to buy domestically. But some items, like bananas, mangos and coffee, are impossible to grow in bulk in the U.S. and that puts some businesses in limbo.

“California and Missouri and Illinois are not going to start growing coffee,� Cohen said. “Even if we could — which we can’t — there’s a huge lead time.�

Goshen Coffee Roasters’ chief coffee officer Tony Auger said he’s been on the phone nonstop with vendors, trying to figure out what will and won’t be affected. For Illinois-based Goshen, which buys its beans from Guatemala, Colombia, Brazil and Indonesia, buying is going to be a lot riskier, he said.

And Auger isn’t even sure if decisions he makes now will last. The roaster recently canceled a massive contract with small-scale farmers in Mexico because Goshen can’t afford to gamble with potential tariffs, Auger said.

“It’s terrible because all the work we did today could be thrown away tomorrow,� he said.

He predicts many coffee roasters and cafes will close and that the price for a cup of Goshen coffee will rise, as their profit margins tighten.

“There’s no way around it,� Auger said. “What people don’t realize is that it’s the packaging, it’s the boxes, it’s the parts on our roasting machine, it’s the tape that we use — it all has to come from somewhere.�

Stringbean and Goshen aren’t alone in their uncertainty. Businesses say they’ll shield their customers from cost increases for as long as possible, but experts warn that, in the end, consumers will see higher price tags.

The National Federation of Independent Business recently shared that its small-business index fell in March. The decline comes from surveyed businesses who reported having negative outlooks on business conditions, sale expectations, and plans to expand and hire.

An April by Endeavor Business Intelligence, the market research arm of Nashville-based Endeavor Business Media, found that about 27% of 400 businesses surveyed said they are facing significant financial strain as a result of the impending tariffs. As a result, over half of the respondents plan to raise prices significantly.

Tariffs as negotiating tactic?

On April 2, Trump announced a round of sweeping tariffs affecting about 90 countries, some climbing as high as 104%. Some of the United States’ major trade partners, including China, Vietnam and Taiwan, faced the brunt of these increased levies. Three days later, a 10% baseline tariff on all countries, which stacked on top of the ones Trump had already imposed, went into effect.

But on April 9, when the higher tariffs were slated to begin, Trump announced a 90-day pause on most countries. Still, many of the previously imposed levies, including in the 10% baseline, remain in place.

Glenn MacDonald, professor of economics and strategy at Washington University’s Olin Business School, said Trump could be using these tariffs as a negotiation tactic, hoping to eliminate some or all tariffs between the U.S. and other countries. And that isn’t a bad idea, he said.

“The ability to exchange between individuals, between individuals in different countries, between countries, that is just an enormous benefit for everybody,� MacDonald said. “Tariffs, when you actually have them, interfere with activity and basically make us all worse off.�

Even before Trump announced the 90-day pause, MacDonald said he wouldn’t be shocked if the levies were short-lived — but that it would depend on how stubborn foreign leaders were willing to be. No head of state wants to look like they’re being pushed around by Trump, but they also have to consider how much pain they are willing to inflict on their citizens to maintain that image, he said.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of countries kind of roll over pretty fast just because it’s in their self-interest,� MacDonald said. “I don’t think the goal is to actually have these tariffs for any length of time. They’re much too destructive.�

In his April 9 announcement, Trump said that more than 75 countries had reached out to the U.S. to negotiate a solution. Some, including the European Union, have put a halt on their own retaliatory taxes against the U.S. But China, in a tit-for-tat race with the U.S., upped its tax on U.S. imports to 125% Friday.

“The uncertainty is the worst part,â€� said Derrick Langeneckert, managing member at ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½-based Alpha Brewing Co. “It makes guys like me nervous.â€�

Langeneckert said the brewery stopped producing experimental beers and hasn’t filled vacant positions.

“An employee asks for a raise — but I don’t even know what I’m doing next week,� he said. “We’re stuck in (between) a rock and a hard spot.�

Langeneckert remembers Trump’s last term, when aluminum cans went from 14 cents to 18 cents each. That doesn’t sound like a lot, he said, but when you’re running about 700 cases a week, it adds up to thousands of dollars. Alpha Brewing Co. gets its cans from Metal Container Corporation in Arnold, which is a subsidy of Anheuser-Busch.

Anheuser-Busch said it would not comment on the tariffs.

Alpha Brewing Co. already sources its grain domestically, and unless the U.S. has a major mineral deposit of bauxite ore, the primary source of aluminum, they can’t get any more locally, Langeneckert said.

“We’re just trying to keep our cash close to our chest,� he said. “This could be the death knell for some breweries.�

At Bluewood Brewing, located in the city’s Benton Park neighborhood, co-owner and head brewer Cameron Lund said potentially higher aluminum prices are prompting them to produce fewer cans this year and push draft beer in kegs, instead.

“Unfortunately, American aluminum does not meet the needs of our industry, and the notion that these tariffs would produce instantaneous organic aluminum growth that would meet the needs of the brewing industry is pretty upsetting to us,� Lund said.

North ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County-based distillery Switchgrass Spirits had plans to sell its whiskey in France and South Korea, said Nick Colombo, Switchgrass Spirits operations and finance manager. But Switchgrass Spirits pulled out of those talks after hearing whispers about potential export costs in February.

Instead, the distillery now plans to focus on expanding into neighboring states and developing lower-cost options, such as a $30-per-bottle sipping whiskey. The distillery produces bourbons ranging from $25 to $70 a bottle.

“If we go into a recession, people aren’t going to want to pay more,� Colombo said. “We’ve seen people cutting back, buying the cheaper bottle, so we wanted to make a new product that is cheaper and smoother.�

Switchgrass Spirits gets its grain in the U.S. but buys glass bottles from Italy. Colombo said he purchased a year’s worth of glass in February and those 26,0000 bottles made it into the country last week, before tariffs were set to take effect.

“Our suppliers are emailing us that they are going to try as hard as they can to keep prices low, but they’ll need to raise prices or they will go out of business,� Colombo said. “Volatility affects manufacturing so much. No one is investing. We’re not willing to invest in new equipment or labor.�

Still, Colombo is optimistic that consumers will continue to buy alcohol no matter what, even if it is just to cope with economic uncertainty.

“Alcohol is recession-proof,� he said. “People tend to drink more when they’re stressed out.�

Editor’s note: This story was updated Monday at 11 a.m. to correct the location of Switchgrass Spirits' headquarters.