WINDSOR — Liz Ross and her husband, David Westby, had been eagerly anticipating the 25th anniversary of their business, CoolSnowGlobes, with Ross planning to celebrate the occasion with a coffee table book featuring the company’s product line including an anniversary globe.

Now, they are wondering if the business will have to close.

“It is going to be a funeral instead of an anniversary,” Ross said in a phone interview describing the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. “I am beyond devastated.”

Ross said Trump’s decision to slap Chinese imports with a 145% percent tariff will raise her costs beyond what can be absorbed by the business,

“We cannot sustain our business with tariffs and extortion provided by the thug in the White House,” Ross said in an email. “Heartbreaking is an understatement.”

For the last 20 years, CoolSnowGlobes, whose products are designed in the U.S. by Ross and Westby and made in China, has shipped about 50,000 snow globes annually to customers around the world, including ballet companies, museums and large corporations. If the tariffs remain, Ross said shipments will stop once their current inventory in the U.S. is sold.

“We will have nothing left to sell after we sell what is in our warehouse because of the tariffs,” Ross said. “To raise tariffs to 145% is untenable. Even 50% and we are done. On top of that, we have merchandise that has already been produced that we have to pay for but can’t afford to bring in because of the tariffs.”

Ross said she has contacted Vermont U.S. Senators Peter Welch and Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, suggesting a pause in the tariffs for small businesses importing less than $1 million or $500,000 annually.

“If the tariffs could be suspended, we could survive,” Ross said.

Raising the price of the globes, now about $60 each, to offset the higher costs caused by tariffs and maintain a profit margin is out of the question, Ross said.

“We are the only company in the world that does this, so we really have no competition,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean we can support 145% tariffs, and that is today. It may go to 185%. No one is going to pay $150 to $200 for a snow globe.”

Ross was living in California when she came up with an idea for snow globes and created 12 designs. Initially, she licensed the designs but took the license back and now handles all aspects of the selling process. About 25% of the business are custom designs — 12 to 15 projects a year — and 75% their own designs. They work with freelance three-dimensional modelers who create the prototypes for production. CoolSnowGlobes has agreements with two family-owned factories in China. In addition, all of the raw materials come from China. The globes are handmade and hand-painted with a variety of themes and images.

“We have been working with them for 25 years and have a great relationship,” Ross said of the two factories.

The couple, which have been based in Windsor since 2006, has three employees in administrative roles, and Ross worries they will lose their jobs and the freelancers will lose work from CoolSnowGlobes

Ross said they considered making the globes in Vermont but, after researching the cost, realized it would have been “prohibitively expensive,” so they stayed in China..

Tim Tierney. Director of Recruitment and International Trade at the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, said that while most knew higher tariffs were coming, no one predicted 145% on Chinese imports and 125% on exports to China.

What he is hearing from Vermont businesses is that some are trying to renegotiate contracts with their Chinese suppl,iers.

“People in China don’t want to lose business as well, so it is both sides of the story,” Tierney said. “That is basically the only tactic they can take other than raising prices on their customers.”

Other businesses, Tierney said, are exploring other manufacturers or suppliers outside of China, but there is time and expense to securing new agreements and finding alternative supply chains.

“Those are some of the avenues people are pursuing: Renegotiate or find another affordable manufacturer in another country,” Tierney said.

The undercurrent of uncertainty about how long the tariffs will last and whether they might increase has made it more difficult for companies to create a plan for their future. Tierney said he knew of a company that was traveling to other nations looking for new production facilities.

“But there is a time and expense to find the same quality,” he said.

Ross said she is not sure what will happen next with her business and a pause in the tariffs is the best she can hope for now.

“We are going to die,” Ross said. “No way can we sustain the business with 145% tariffs. It is kind of shocking to think that the government is killing my business after 25 years.”

Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.