Surviving the Tariff Whiplash: Lessons from 2018–2019
- The HRG Team
- Apr 23
- 1 min read
We’ve been here before.
Back in 2018 and 2019, when the U.S. imposed a wave of new tariffs on Chinese goods, many suppliers found themselves caught off guard. Some paused expansion. Others scrambled to raise prices. A few quietly disappeared.
But the ones who grew? They shared a few things in common:
They understood their true cost-to-serve per SKU.
They communicated proactively with retailers.
And they recovered every dollar possible from deductions and chargebacks.
One fictional brand—let’s call them “Peak Naturals”—reclaimed $280,000 in aged compliance deductions during that time. That recovery didn’t just pad the books. It funded a packaging switch that allowed them to shift manufacturing to Malaysia and avoid the next round of tariffs.
That move tripled their shelf space the following year.
The takeaway? Tariffs aren’t just about reacting. They’re about rebalancing—how you control the costs you can, while preparing for the ones you can’t.
Want to learn from the last tariff cycle? HRG helps you build resilience through recovery. Let's talk.
