Ann Brunett, the executive vice president and chief operating officer of The Mitchell Group, and her thoughts on the U.S.’s tariff policy were included in a Letter to the Editor published in The Washington Post May 5. The piece, entitled “Makers of clothes, beer and more on what tariffs really mean for you,” discusses the U.S. government’s tariff policy and its implications for the American textile industry. The article includes Brunett’s thoughts, along with four other business owners’, including a brewer, a decorator and a biotech executive.
Brunett’s editorial highlights the consequences of inconsistent trade policy.
“My company, Mitchell Fabrics, has sourced coated fabrics from Asia—primarily China—for decades,” Brunett writes. “Not because we wanted to offshore, but because these materials and technologies simply do not exist domestically. For certain high-performance faux leather products, particularly in the healthcare, hospitality, and contract furniture sectors, Chinese suppliers remain unmatched in both quality and value.”
Brunett calls attention to the years of proprietary research and development that have gone into establishing these supply chains, and the lack of viable alternatives in the U.S. She also urges policymakers to reconsider the one-size-fits-all approach to tariffs, especially as it affects small and mid-sized businesses.
“If the administration doesn’t care to bring certain types of manufacturing back to the U.S., then it should allow businesses like mine to import those goods without the crippling burden of tariffs,” she writes.
Brunett was also interviewed as a source for a CNN article. The article is entitled “How Trump’s 145% China tariffs could crush American small businesses: ‘There’s no facility here that makes what we need,’” written by Nayeli Jaramillo-Plata and published April 25.
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