Daily Outtakes: Emily Ley explains tariffs

I'm your huckleberry

The April 24 edition of Inweekly focuses on Pensacola business owner Emily Ley. She never expected to find herself filing a lawsuit against the President of the United States, but that’s exactly where she stands today. The 42-year-old founder of Simplified, a successful lifestyle brand that manufactures its products in China, is challenging the Trump administration’s hefty tariffs that threaten her business’s survival.

The New Civil Liberties Alliance filed the lawsuit on Ley’s behalf on April 3, claiming President Trump unlawfully implemented a 20% tariff on Chinese goods. The lawsuit argues that the International Emergency Economics Powers Act invoked by Trump “does not authorize the president to impose tariffs” – a power constitutionally reserved for Congress.

Since launching her first planner in 2012, Ley discovered that American manufacturing wasn’t financially viable for her detailed products. “I paid $38 for each planner and sold them for $50 each. Everyone told me this isn’t possible as a professional business,” she explains. In China, she pays just 25% of retail cost per product, making her business model sustainable.

But since 2017, Ley has paid approximately $1.17 million in tariffs and projects between $830,000 and $1 million this year alone. “As of [early April], our tariffs are anywhere from 104-134% a shipment that I’ll have to find money for,” she revealed.

Despite facing social media ridicule from Trump supporters, particularly in her conservative Northwest Florida community, she’s also receiving bipartisan support. A UWF Economics Professor praised her courage, noting, “Going vocal on this and filing a lawsuit is a risky strategy.”

For Ley, who employs eight women across the U.S., this fight extends beyond her company.

“My American dream is that this company does amazing things, not just in business, but in philanthropy and for the community. I’m not going down without a fight.”

This issue will be available on inweekly.net at 11 a.m. today.

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Daily Outtakes: Emily Ley explains tariffs

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