Florida stationery business owner sues Trump administration over tariffs: “We can’t survive the short-term pain”

Pensacola, Florida — Emily Ley has spent the last 17 years building Simplified, her small stationery business based in Pensacola, Florida.

The company produces its planners in China, but for American shoppers. 

“I would love to make them here, but the U.S. simply doesn’t have the infrastructure or the supply chain to do it,” Ley told CBS News.   

That stationery is now subject to the recent slew of sky-high tariffs.

“We don’t have the same options as large businesses,” Ley said. “We don’t have the same capital or ability to pivot.” 

After President Trump raised tariffs on China this month, eventually totaling 145%, Ley, with the help of the nonpartisan, conservative-funded New Civil Liberties Alliance, filed a federal lawsuit against the president, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and acting U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Pete Flores, alleging illegal use of emergency powers illegally to enact the fees.   

Ley said that because Congressional approval was bypassed to impose the tariffs, she and other voters didn’t have their positions represented. 

“Had (Congress) had a chance to debate, discuss, vote, be involved, I would’ve then had the opportunity to make my voice heard,” she explained. “And same for other Americans who were gonna be impacted by the tariffs. That didn’t happen.” 

“If this is the end of my American dream, I’m gonna go down swinging,” Ley said. 

The president has argued that the tariffs represent short-term pain that will result in long-term gain.

But according to Ley, “We can’t survive the short-term pain, and especially without any sort of plan in place to create the infrastructure here…It would take years and millions and millions of dollars to build such a thing that’s been built overseas over decades.” 

Ley said Simplified has paid nearly $1.2 million in tariffs since Mr. Trump’s first term, and is facing between $830,000 and $1 million in payments this year alone under the administration’s new tariffs. 

While the White House is offering exemptions to multibillion-dollar Chinese industries that produce smartphones and other electronics, Ley says that to just cover the cost of tariffs at 145%, she would have to raise prices on her $64 signature planner to $82. To maintain a profit on her planners, Ley would have to double the sticker price to about $120.  

“I’m not paying $120 for a planner,” Ley said.

Ley employs eight other women, and disclosed that she is being forced to consider reducing salaries and possibly eliminating positions, something she says she really doesn’t want to do.

She says it comes down to keeping prices manageable for customers while balancing the new tariff burden on her bottom line.

Ley said that China’s unique manufacturing infrastructure isn’t currently available in the U.S. or other countries internationally. Different elements of her planners are made in several different factories in the Shenzhen region. Because they are located close to one another, the final product is higher quality and more affordable.  

In response to Ley’s lawsuit, Harrison Fields, a White House spokesperson, told CBS News in a statement that the president “has broad authority to impose tariffs to address issues of national emergency, such as the opioid pandemic. The Trump Administration looks forward to victory in court.”  

Ley says her business cannot survive such tariffs.

“That’s what’s terrifying,” Ley said. “…It’s just not sustainable. And it’s truly catastrophic to so many businesses, and big businesses and small businesses alike. But I really think small businesses are gonna be the casualty of this trade war.” 

Jo Ling Kent

Journalist Jo Ling Kent joined CBS News in July 2023 as the senior business and technology correspondent for CBS News. Kent has more than 15 years of experience covering the intersection of technology and business in the U.S., as well as the emergence of China as a global economic power.