How do you run a business when a trade war is brewing? As President Trump's tariffs kick in - or are paused or are restarted - businesses around the world are trying to navigate the uncertainty.And, while trade is this big global thing, it is made up of individual farmers and business owners and truckers and manufacturers. Millions of people all over the world are being forced to reevaluate relationships that they've been building for years. Canadians have had a head start - Trump announced his plan to tariff Canadian goods on day one in office. So in today's episode: how one Canadian small business is trying to manage the chaos.This episode was produced by Sylvie Douglis and edited by Sally Helm. It was engineered by Cena Loffredo and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. Find more Planet Money: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / Our weekly Newsletter.Listen free at these links: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts.Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.Music: NPR Source Audio - "Mr. Chill," "Lazy Ranger," and "Guess What"Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Heads up, in this episode, we are not able to consistently pronounce the word pecan. Sometimes it's pecan, sometimes it's pecan. Okay, you've been warned. This is Planet Money from NPR. So I guess, would you mind introducing yourself?
My name is Alex, Alex Rodrigues, and I have a small business here in Vancouver, Canada called Nut Hut.
How do you not giggle when you say Nut Hut?
Oh, I don't. I had years of thinking, I should change the name. This is ridiculous. We have a physical location, and this is probably TMI, but we have a physical location with the big word Nut Hut. And there are instances of guys showing up in front of our building and posing in front of the sign and taking selfies.
Anyhow, Alex has been running her small business in Vancouver for almost a decade.
Nuthut is like a specialty shop. Alex sells just nuts, seeds, chocolate, and dried fruit, mostly from small, sustainably run farms. And finding those farmers is one of the main things she focuses on.
And that is not easy. Not everyone is reliable. She still hasn't found a pine nut that she really likes. So she doesn't sell pine nuts. So when she starts working with somebody good, she is very loyal.
And back in 2020, she makes an amazing find. She's looking on Etsy, trying to find a gift for her kid. And for whatever reason, probably because she runs a nut business, she comes across a page selling what are known as native pecans. And she's curious about them. So she reaches out to the seller and learns that these pecans are from a really special place.
The land that her pecans are growing on, like it's land that is designated that it can only ever be growing these pecans.
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