Tariff on Wheelchairs Hurts the Poor – Both Here and Abroad by Marc Krizack
(Updated May 17, 2025)
Trump’s tariffs jump up and then come crashing down. At the moment, there is a ninety-day pause on the 145% tariff on imports from China. During this pause, the tariff will be 30%, but with the threat of 80% if Trump is not satisfied at the end of this period, based on no one knows what. Trump may like to use uncertainty as a negotiating tactic, but uncertainty can have a devastating effect on a tiny company such as mine that cannot make purchasing and pricing decisions without knowing what actual costs will be. The uncertainty and even a small increase in prices due to tariffs, combined with DOGE’s near total destruction of USAID will likely put my small specialty wheelchair company out of business and deprive American wheelchair users of a great option for safe, outdoor and independent travel.
When I first posted on my company’s Facebook page that I would have to raise my prices or maybe even go out of business, I received a number of comments indicating the writers were of the opinion that tariffs will bring manufacturing back to the United States. But it seems clear that is not Trump’s purpose in imposing tariffs because low tariffs will not bring business back to the US, or even keep companies from moving offshore. They will only lead to price increases.
Although large companies such as Apple, which make millions of cellphones, computers, and other electronics chose to outsource their manufacturing to China, my products, the RoughRider wheelchair and its lightweight version the Aurora, were never intended for production in the U.S. The original design was piloted in the 1980s by the nonprofit Whirlwind Wheelchair International, designed to be durable, repairable, safe and highly usable in the rugged urban and rural conditions in developing countries. We helped small shops throughout the developing world manufacture these chairs using locally available materials and low-tech tooling. They were intended for local sale. When it became clear with globalization in the early 2000s that much larger volumes with higher quality could be manufactured in a central location and still be durable and readily repairable with available spare parts in developing countries, we started to manufacture in Vietnam and Indonesia. We then moved to China to take advantage of a program sponsored in part by USAID that would draw on a variety of wheelchair styles already being manufactured there, that could be sold to charitable organizations and sent in consolidated shipments around the world to meet the many and varied needs of wheelchair users.
When wheelchair users in rural Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina learned about our chairs for use on rough terrain, they asked that we make them available here in the U.S. It was already apparent that even in towns and cities across America there are sidewalks in need of repair that pose a substantial risk of falling for people in tippy standard wheelchairs. Yet, it would be prohibitively expensive to onshore production of our wheelchairs. There are the costs of tooling, training, salaries and benefits among other costs. The average manufacturing wage in China is equivalent to about $6 an hour. The average hourly pay for a nonunion manufacturing worker in the U.S. is around $16.73, with a range typically between $14.90 and $18.27 according to Zip Recruiter. The cost for me to manufacture in the U.S. would be at least triple what I pay now.
Much of the focus on the effects of the Trump tariffs has been on large corporations and whether they will pass on the cost increases to their customers. If they have already marked up their products a lot, they may be able to absorb some of the increased cost. Walmart, for example, which uses a low-cost sales strategy, has already said that it will have to raise prices on most of its products that come from China. Because there are many people throughout the U.S. who need but cannot afford to purchase a good wheelchair, my business plan, like Walmart’s has been to provide our wheelchairs at the lowest possible price. I will have little choice but to increase my prices once my current stock in the US has been depleted. If I try to pass those costs on to my customers, many will no longer be able to afford them. If I cannot pass those costs on, it could mean the end of my business.
In a few months, I will have to make the decision whether or not to continue to import chairs from China. If I choose to continue, I will have to pay the 30% – 80% tariff upfront before the chairs are released by customs, thus incurring interest costs. If I raise my prices and my sales fall off, I will be stuck with monthly warehouse expenses for an extended period of time. I will still have to pay other overhead expenses that include more than $7000 annually to maintain my registration with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which ensures wheelchairs meet a rigorous set of standards for quality, safety and durability.
US foreign assistance that targets people with disabilities has proven to be an effective deployment of “soft power,” extending and reinforcing American influence. Yet with the end of USAID support to international efforts to improve the quality, variety and availability of low-cost wheelchairs in the developing world, my international sales have plummeted as well. My two-employee company – I am one of the two – has been hit with a double whammy. If my company is unable to survive, Americans who need the very best of wheelchairs for travel in some of the worst conditions such as over broken sidewalks, through mud and on dirt, grass, and gravel will have to make do with wheelchairs that won’t enable them to function independently outside their home.
Marc Krizack is CEO of RoughRider America LLC, based in Berkeley, California. From 2002 until 2019 he was executive director of Whirlwind Wheelchair International, a nonprofit dedicated to the full participation of people with disabilities in their communities through improved mobility. From 1993 through 2005 he managed two USAID and two State Department-funded projects in post-Soviet Russia that developed local wheelchair production in Novosibirsk (Siberia) and transformed a disabled sports club into an independent living center providing services and advocacy by and for people with disabilities. He also helped establish a disabled community health clinic, a program for significantly disabled students at Novosibirsk State University and an orientation and mobility teacher training program that would provide independent mobility for blind people.