Tea, tariffs, and tough decisions

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
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**Kimberly Adams** (0:31)
How US factories are spending for the future and how one small business is trying to plan for the future in the middle of a trade war.
From Marketplace in Washington, I'm Kimberly Adams. We'll get a final look at July factory orders later this morning from the Commerce Department. That data gives us a sense of how US manufacturers see future demand because it looks at how much they are buying to get ready for it. Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Ganzer updates us on how manufacturing has been doing this year and what we might expect in the fall.

**Nancy Marshall-Ganzer** (1:03)
The Commerce Department released its preliminary look at July orders of durable goods last week. Durable goods are things made to last for three years or more. Last week's initial numbers were better than expected. Factory orders rose by around 1 percent in July, up from a half percent increase in June. This was the biggest jump in orders since April, according to Zach's Investment Research. The growth in manufacturing comes despite higher prices for steel, aluminum and oil because of President Trump's tariffs and the war in the Middle East. The Commerce Department says if you strip out transportation, new orders were only up four-tenths percent in July. Still, in a research note, nationwide senior economist Ben Ayers says he expects factory orders to stay strong this year because of demand from the data center buildout and tax incentives, and durable goods orders could stay strong next year if, quote, geopolitical tensions calm down. I'm Nancy Marshall-Genser for Marketplace.

**Kimberly Adams** (2:02)
US oil giant Chevron announced today that it will expand production in Venezuela through a $7 billion investment in access to new land for Chevron in an oil-rich region called the Orinoco Belt. The company says it plans on doubling production in the next five years to about 600,000 barrels a day.
Chevron's position is unique, as it's the only major US oil company with a significant presence in Venezuela. This comes some eight months after the Trump administration ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
And the private payroll processor ADP is out with its latest job count. Private companies added 38,000 jobs in August, down from 46,000 in July.
ADP says August was the slowest month since January. We get the big federal jobs report on Friday.

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**Kimberly Adams** (4:13)
The federal government has already issued billions of dollars in tariff-free funds. But for many small businesses in America, they haven't seen any part of that yet. And even if they had, it wouldn't entirely offset new tariffs from the Trump administration or the other economic headwinds like elevated shipping and fuel costs. That's been the case for Rachel Rozner. She's the owner and founder of Elden Street Tea Shop in Reston, Virginia. And she joins me to talk about how tariffs and inflation are hitting her business. Rachel, welcome back to the show.

**Rachel Rozner** (4:44)
Hi, Kimberly. Thank you for having me.

**Kimberly Adams** (4:46)
What does this mean for the prices that you actually charge to your customers?

**Rachel Rozner** (4:50)
Right now, we are holding steady at our prices. We did increase them slightly last year, but we are holding steady at our prices.