Dina Ghazarian had been in business for just a year when the trade policies of President Donald Trump's first term hit her company hard.
It was 2019 and her California-based firm, Ouster, had agreed to supply several major US retailers with its high-end audio and video accessories, which are largely manufactured in China.
Then Trump imposed sweeping tariffs on China, and overnight Dina had to pay a 25% surcharge on every cable and component, up from zero before.
She was forced to absorb the costs and for a while thought she would go bankrupt.
"I literally thought I would start and close the business in less than a year," she says. "I had spent so much time, money and effort, and to have something like this come at you was shocking." The firm took the job, but like many other US businesses it now finds itself in a similar position.
Since coming back into office in January, Mr Trump has increased tariffs on all goods imported from China by 20%, and imposed taxes of 25% on Canadian and Mexican products, only deferring some until April. The president says he wants to force these countries to do more to stop the flow of illegal drugs and migrants into the US, bring more manufacturing back to the US and address unfair trade imbalances. But the tariffs are much broader than last time, when they were gradually phased in and many products were exempt. Goods such as smartphones, desktop computers and tablets are now incurring tariffs for the first time, while taxes on others have gone higher. "US importers will have to pay these taxes, not exporters," says Ed Brzytwa, vice president of international trade at the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), a North American trade body. It represents more than 1,200 tech firms. "It is American businesses and consumers who will suffer." Businesses like Ms Gazarian's are particularly exposed. China is still the number one supplier of electronic products to the US, with imports set to total $146 billion (£112 billion) in 2023, according to official figures.
Meanwhile, 87% of video game consoles imported into the US that year came from China, along with 78% of smartphones, 79% of laptops and tablets and two-thirds of monitors.
While many US companies such as Ouster have diversified their supply chains away from China since Mr Trump's first term, countries such as Thailand, Taiwan and Vietnam still do not offer the same manufacturing capacity and expertise.
As well, the US president is now targeting Mexico - another major electronics supplier. And while domestic manufacturing in the US has increased, partly due to tariffs, it is still limited by high costs and strict regulations.
"Yes, Apple now makes some iPhones in India and [Taiwanese chipmaker] TSMC is diversifying to Arizona," says Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute in Washington DC. "But China is still a big part of the supply chain. It takes time to develop relationships with new suppliers, it's expensive to develop them." Research suggests companies pass on a large part of the cost of tariffs by raising prices. Earlier this month Corie Barry, the boss of US electronics retailer Best Buy, said the "vast majority" of the new tariffs "will likely be passed on to the consumer" because vendors in the industry have very thin margins. In February, Taiwanese firm Acer said it would likely increase the price of its laptops by 10% based on the 10% tariffs applied to China at the time, while US group HP warned its profits would be hit by tariffs. Ms Gazarian says she may have to raise her prices this year, but she worries it could backfire. "There is a price point where the customer is satisfied with the value of the goods provided. "The minute I go above that, I start losing customers. High inflation has squeezed Americans." During Mr Trump's first term, companies such as Apple successfully secured discounts for products, and we may yet see reductions. Insiders have also suggested that Mr Trump sees tariffs as a negotiating tactic and may reduce them if he gets concessions, as he did when China agreed to buy more US goods in a deal struck in 2020. Fears of a US economic slowdown could also force him to change course. For the time being, however, tensions are likely to remain elevated. China, Mexico and Canada have vowed to retaliate against any US tariffs imposed on them, and this week Mr Trump threatened to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium, but backed down at the last minute. He plans to impose "reciprocal tariffs" on the rest of the world soon, and threatened to raise tariffs on Chinese goods by up to 60% during the campaign.
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