Seth Weiner, president of Gaithersburg, MD-based Sonic Promos (asi/329865), discussed how tariffs have affected the promotional products industry during a panel of small-business leaders organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Seth Weiner (third from left), president of Sonic Promos, spoke on a panel about the state of American business, hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The “Faces of Business” fireside chat earlier this month was led by Suzanne Clark, president of the chamber, and also featured entrepreneur Steve Case, chairman and CEO of Revolution and co-founder of America Online; Charlotte Lee, CEO of Kastling Group; John Phillips, president and CEO of AE Electric Solutions; and Jacob Hsu, CEO of Catalyte.

“It’s a very volatile time right now,” Weiner told the audience. “We knew about the tariffs back in 2018. Our company and a lot of companies like ours did a lot of work in advance to try to get ahead of it. The biggest thing was buying lots of inventory for 2019 to be able to not be affected by what would be coming in so you could hold your prices.”

Watch Weiner’s full remarks below:

Weiner’s comments were part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 21st annual State of American Business event.