Running out of inventory and options as she looks for a path to save her company wrecked by tariffs, Beth (Fynbo) Benike is trying to crowdfund $229,000 to pay what she describes as a “ransom” on three months’ worth of Busy Baby products stranded in China, where they were made.

Benike, who last month was named Minnesota’s Small Business Person of the year by the U.S. Small Business Administration, said it was not an easy decision to turn to a GoFundMe campaign to keep her business afloat.

The business at stake — Busy Baby — makes eight baby-related products, including a patented signature product, the Busy Baby Mat. The soft silicone placemat features suction cups to stay in place with stretchy tethers to attach baby toys. It is based in Oronoco.

“This is the very LAST thing I ever wanted to have to do … I will not teach my kids how to quit when bad things happen. I’m going to set my ego aside and ask for help and keep fighting,” Benike wrote on the GoFundMe campaign that she launched on Sunday.

As of Tuesday morning, the campaign had collected more than $17,000, almost 8% of the overall goal.

The roadblock of tariffs struck as Benike is fully leveraged, with loans using her house as collateral. She took out additional loans to finance making more products to fulfill an expanded contract with Walmart.

Bringing the shipment of about three months’ worth of products to the U.S. isn’t a long-term solution to the tariff problem, but it would buy her some time to map out a plan to save her 8-year-old company.

“There are some viable potential paths, but none that I can execute quickly enough to save our business. I’ve got to pay the ransom and get our products here so we can have a little more time to figure this out,” she wrote.

Benike, who is a U.S. Army veteran, created the prototype for the baby placemat in her kitchen in Oronoco. Helped by economic development groups including the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation in Owatonna, she started to grow Busy Baby and even made an appearance on the “Shark Tank” TV show that features start-up pitches.

She now co-owns the company with her brother Eric Fynbo. They have a warehouse/distribution center in Zumbrota with five employees. Millions of Busy Baby mats are now being used in houses around the world.

President Donald Trump’s tariffs on China were not a surprise, and Benike had budgeted $31,000 to cover the tariff she expected on her current shipment of products in China. However, she did not anticipate the tariff climbing over a few days to 145%.

Given that making products in the U.S. is not financially or logistically in a timeline to save Busy Baby, Benike said she is looking at transforming her business into a global brand to sell to international customers instead of in the U.S.

Paying the tariff and getting her product shipment to the U.S. will give her the time to hammer out that plan or other options for keeping Busy Baby busy.

— Forum News Service

China sees 5.4% annual growth in 1Q

China’s economy expanded at a 5.4% annual pace in January-March, supported by strong exports ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s rapid increases in tariffs on Chinese exports, the government said Wednesday.

Analysts are forecasting that the world’s second largest economy will slow significantly in coming months, however, as tariffs as high as 145% on U.S. imports from China take effect.

Beijing has hit back at the U.S. with 125% tariffs on American exports.

In quarterly terms the Chinese economy grew 1.2% in January-March, slowing from 1.6% in the last quarter of 2024.

J&J expects $400M hit from tariffs

Health care giant Johnson & Johnson expects about $400 million in tariff-related costs this year.

The costs will be felt primarily within the company’s medical technology unit, which makes a range of medical devices and surgical products. The most substantial impact comes from tariffs against China and retaliatory tariffs from China, said Joseph Wolk, Johnson & Johnson’s chief financial officer, in a conference call with analysts.

The company’s estimate also includes the impact from tariffs on aluminum and steel, along with tariffs against key U.S. trading partners Canada and Mexico.

The cost estimate does not include possible tariffs on imports of pharmaceuticals. The Trump administration has launched an investigation into imports of pharmaceuticals, which is a step towards imposing tariffs.

Judge tosses Biden-era credit card fee rule

A Texas judge on Tuesday threw out a federal rule that would have capped credit card late fees after officials with President Donald Trump’s administration and a coalition of major banking groups agreed that the rule was illegal.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth came a day after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a collection of major industry groups that had filed a lawsuit last year to stop the rule announced they had come to an agreement to throw out the rule.

The groups that sued included the American Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The banks have been pushing hard to stop the late fee rule, due to the potential billions of dollars the banks would lose in revenue.

— From news services