An ‘existential threat’: How Trump’s trade war is hitting one Mass. company| John L. Micek

If you want a ground-level look at America’s unfolding trade war with Mexico and Canada, Carter Everitt has you covered.

Everitt is the vice president of marketing at Mariposa, a 45-year-old gift and tableware company based in Manchester, along the North Shore, a little more than an hour out of Boston.

The company is “most known for our frames,” which are made out of recycled aluminum imported from Mexico, she said. The company works with 150 artisans south of the border.

You can find its products at such high-end retailers as Macy’s, Neiman Marcus and Pottery Barn.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration imposed 25% tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S.

The Republican White House hit Mexico and Canada, two of the nation’s biggest trading partners, with 25% tariffs on other goods. The White House also slapped a 20% levy on Chinese goods.

That’s sent small companies, such as Mariposa, which employs 25 people here in the Bay State, scrambling to make adjustments, Everitt told MassLive.

The firm’s owners were headed to Mexico on Monday “in an effort to start new product lines that are not aluminum-based, because this, as it is, could put us out of business,” Everitt said.

Everitt and her husband, who described the White House’s trade war as an “existential threat,” told their story as they waited for U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, D-6th District, to start a Saturday town hall with his constituents.

They were among the roughly 600 people who filled the auditorium at Masconomet High School in Boxford in Essex County.

And like everyone else in the room, they were hoping to tell the Salem Democrat their story — and maybe, just maybe, get some help.

The company is splitting the cost of the aluminum tariff with its factory in Mexico. And the firm spent last week working on a price increase that it plans to announce to its retailers, she said.

But when it comes to the one-two punch of the duties on aluminum and all other imported goods from Mexico?

“We would just not be able to absorb that,” she said.

The economic impact is real. The 25% tariff on Mexican imports is expected to hit up to $236 billion in goods, according to an analysis by The Tax Foundation. The White House’s steel and aluminum tariffs alone will impact $41 billion worth of goods coming into the country, according to that same analysis.

As of 2021, Massachusetts did $7.1 billion worth of trade with Mexico, according to a fact sheet compiled by the Mexican government.

The bulk of that total, $4.3 billion, came from imports. About a third of those imports (35%) were semiconductors and other electrical equipment.

If Mariposa does have to hike its prices, that’s “going to dramatically affect sales,” Everitt said. “Because, I think, consumers right now, their confidence is shrinking with what’s happening to the economy. And now we’re going to have to increase prices? It’s going to really hurt us.”

That sentiment, too, is buttressed by the numbers. Consumer confidence has sunk to a two-year low as the White House, which has acknowledged the discomfort caused by its policies, attempts to reshape the economy in Trump’s nativist image.

In an interview backstage before Saturday’s town hall, Moulton said he believed tariffs were not “automatically bad.” Rather, the problem lies with the White House’s chaotic execution of its economic policies.

Everitt’s moment with Moulton came about midway through that Saturday town hall. She had just started describing her company and asked him for his help when the North Shore lawmaker jumped in.

“Can I take a wild guess? Mariposa?” he asked.

“Yes!” Everitt told him.

“So look, I’ll be honest with you. I don’t know the exact answer to your question, but we will find out,” he told her. “And it’s a great example of why it’s important not just to come to town halls but to reach out to my office because we have to take on a lot of these cases … follow up with my team [afterward], and then we’ll do whatever we can to assist.”

That nabbed Moulton an enthusiastic “thank you so much,” from Everitt.

Moulton’s promise of assistance might not have been enough to end the cross-border trade war. But for a little company on the North Shore, it was a potentially big win.