‘Impossible to continue.’ Trump tariffs choke Boise company | Opinion
Mike’s Organic Curry Love, a small business right here in Boise, makes Thai curry paste, sauces and noodles.
You can find their products in Whole Foods, Harris Teeter, Mom’s Organic Market and online.
But…
“Go get it now, while you can, because I don’t know how much longer it’s going to be there,” Mike Buechi said Thursday at a press conference in Washington, D.C.
He and his co-owner Laurie Sebestyen took part in a We Pay the Tariffs press conference, highlighting the small businesses that are being hurt by President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which are arbitrary, reckless and often make no sense. My colleague Sarah Cutler wrote about Mike’s Organic Curry Love in August for an article explaining the impact of Trump’s tariffs on local businesses.
In August, Trump imposed a 19% tariff on imported goods from Thailand, from which Buechi and Sebestyen source all of their raw goods, including coconut cream and noodles.
“We’ve been doing this since 2008, and the grocery business is pretty tough without tariffs,” Buechi said. “And the tariffs that we have to pay now make it basically impossible to continue the business.”
That rate at least is significantly lower than the 36% level Trump announced in April, but it’s still too much to make Mike’s a financially viable business.
“I’ve had to stop ordering product from Thailand because I just can’t really afford to pay the tariffs that are necessary, and also we wouldn’t make any profit,” Buechi said. “So our business is most likely going out of business, and that just makes us sad.”
Mike’s Organic Curry Love is not alone.
Its story reminds me of another Boise business, Grove Fruit Growers, that exports mangoes from Cambodia. I interviewed its owner, Coree Carver, in April about the potential 49% tariffs on that country, which would be a death knell for her company. If the goal is to “onshore” businesses back in the United States, it’s simply not realistic for companies like Grove Fruit Growers and Mike’s Organic Curry Love. There aren’t a lot of mango groves in the U.S.
Similarly, “you can’t make curry in Idaho,” Buechi told Cutler in August. “There’s no coconuts here, there’s no lemongrass here, there’s no ginger here.”
Buechi and Sebestyen spoke at a press conference with other small businesses from around the country: a luggage shop in Lubbock, Texas; a board game developer in Omaha, Nebraska; and Cocoon, an outdoor travel goods manufacturer in Wenatchee, Washington.
The press conference was held on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in November on whether Trump’s tariffs are constitutional. The argument is that Congress and the legislative branch — not the executive branch — has the power of the purse and the ability to enact tariffs. Lower courts have already struck down many of Trump’s tariffs.
“I want to be clear: Small businesses are paying the Trump tariffs,” U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Washington, said at Thursday’s press conference. “You deserve stability and certainty, and I want to fight every day until you get it. The Supreme Court must end these tariffs. The president must follow the law. Small businesses must be repaid for the illegal tariffs.”
I thought it was interesting to hear Tiffany Zarfas Williams, third-generation owner of The Luggage Shop of Lubbock, talk about the uncertainty of the tariffs and how they hit small businesses harder.
“I do understand and respect my president’s desire to have good trade policy,” she said. “We’ve been asked to weather the short-term pain for the long-term gain, but I’ve just had a hard time seeing exactly what the long term looks like and what exactly that means, and is it worth the risk of losing small local businesses like ours in the process.”
She noted that it’s small businesses like hers that donate to the Little League teams and give items for local auctions.
“Hopefully, as you listen to me talk, that you’ll think about that small business in your own community, that small business you love going to and shopping at,” Zarfas Williams said. “I’m speaking for them as well as I speak for myself here.”
Businesses like Mike’s Organic Curry Love in Boise.
“We just appreciate the support that we’ve received the last 17 years, and we hope that there’s a way for these policies to do a turnaround, because we’d like to stay doing what we’re doing,” Sebestyen said during Thursday’s press conference. “This is our passion and our livelihood.”
Cantwell was listening.
“Small businesses are the ones who are being impacted, and you heard their stories, and my colleagues on Capitol Hill need to heed this advice and do something to put Congress back in charge,” Cantwell said. “If relief doesn’t come fast enough, millions of jobs will be lost and livelihoods will be decimated.”
Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch, are you listening?
Scott McIntosh is the opinion editor of the Idaho Statesman. You can email him at smcintosh@idahostatesman.com or call him at 208-377-6202. Sign up for the free weekly email newsletter The Idaho Way.
This story was originally published September 19, 2025 at 4:00 AM.
