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Insights and Expertise

There is also the problem of tariffs happening so quick-
ly that very few companies have had time to shield
themselves from their repercussions.
It takes an immense amount of time to switch up sup-
ply lines, even for smaller businesses. In fact, smaller
businesses are now importing products that they paid
for months ago, but they now need to pay extra tariffs
for them, which they didn’t expect.

All businesses will struggle to gain financing in these
uncertain times. The businesses that may stand a
chance of receiving financing are those that demon-
strate that they have:

• Reasonable cash reserves, to help ease them
through the harder times on the market.

• A supply chain that is reasonably isolated from
the countries that have the largest tariffs applied
– China, Taiwan, etc.
• A robust business model

Given current conditions, I do not believe many new
businesses will receive financing in the near future,
unless they are service-based businesses or ones that
require purely U.S. resources. Even in those cases, the
tough economy means that financiers may think twice
about who they lend cash to.

The future
We are now living in the heart of uncertainty and, hon-
estly, the United States is showing itself to be rather
unpredictable. And I don’t see things changing any-
time soon. Even if the United States pauses tariffs for a bluu™ Tab Order is designed to
while (as it has done, albeit with a 10 percent baseline help restaurants improve efficiency,
in place), the markets are still unlikely to settle sub-
stantially. This is because the country has demonstrat- reduce labor costs, and boost
ed that it can change its mind at a moment’s notice. customer experience.

Companies are scared to deal with the United States
right now, even if it is a large market. And lenders are
unlikely to lend masses of cash in this market. I don’t
know what the future holds, because there has been no
indication that things will stabilize in the near future.

However, I can tell you that if you're having a diffi-
cult time finding business financing, or if some of your
merchant clients are experiencing the same thing, you
are not alone. It's an extremely difficult market right
now. It's possible, though, that alternative funders
might be able to find creative ways to help you out.

Chad Otar is CEO of Lending Valley Inc. For information about the
company, please visit www.lendingvalley.com. To reach Chad, send
an email to chad@lendingvalley.com.

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