Tom Ruff, second from left, speaks Monday about how tariffs are impacting his brewery, Orange Bike Brewing Co., at the business in Portland. Also speaking about the impacts of tariffs are from left, Will McIntee, Ruff, Travis Blake, Mark Ferguson, Andi Robbins, Mary Chapman and Quincy Hentzel. Ruff’s 8-year-old daughter, Lula Ruff, is in the foreground. Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald

Since a 25% tariff on aluminum kicked in this month, the price Orange Bike Brewing Co. pays for a flat of 6,224 cans made in Canada has increased by $31.

That might not sound like much, but it’s a lot for a successful startup that’s looking to triple its production as one of only 14 gluten-free breweries in the U.S. It’s even more troubling when many breweries are already struggling to survive.

“Our highest cost is packaging,” said Tom Ruff, founder and CEO of Orange Bike. “Multiply it over and over again, it’s significant, especially for a small brewery like us.”

The Portland brewer hosted a news conference Monday with other Maine business owners who are raising alarm about the devastating impacts of President Donald Trump’s hard-hitting and unpredictable tariff maneuvers.

“What’s been so hard is the uncertainty and the rapid and massive fluctuations every single day on the tariffs,” Ruff said.

“We would love to see manufacturing happen here, but it’s not a quick fix,” he said. “We don’t have the supply in the United States right now, and the tariffs are now.”

The press conference was organized by the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Maine to call attention to the challenges facing Maine as tariffs are threatened, imposed and paused, stock markets rise and fall, and business owners and their customers try to make sense of it all.

Quincy Hentzel, chamber president and CEO, said policymakers must understand that businesses need some measure of stability to succeed.

“They want to know what the rules are,” she said. “They want predictability, and one thing we do not have right now is any form of predictability. Instead, what we’re getting is confusion and disruption and chaos.”

Ruff speaks about how tariffs are affecting his brewery, Orange Bike Brewing Co., at the business in Portland. Daryn Slover/Portland Press Herald

Hentzel said the current economic instability is especially unnerving for small retailers who typically order merchandise now to sell during the holiday season in November and December.

“So we’re finding even very small retailers are in an incredibly challenging place as they’re trying to plan for the future,” she said.

Travis Blake, president of the homebuilders group, said even the potential of tariffs has spiked the cost of some lumber and products.

Blake, who also heads JW Design-Build in Augusta, said two of his construction company’s projects have been canceled because tariffs — both threatened and imposed — have pushed costs beyond what customers can afford.

One $300,000 project faced an increase of more than $20,000, he said, while cost escalators are being added to all remaining contracts.

“We need trade policy that gives people in businesses confidence to move forward,” Blake said. “The need for more housing is very important and it’s something we’re ready to provide if we don’t have stumbling blocks.”

Mark Ferguson, president of Brant & Cochran, a craft axe-maker in South Portland, said he normally buys steel that’s produced at mills in South Carolina and New York. Since tariffs on imported steel were imposed, the demand for domestic steel has increased, making it scarce and driving the cost up 35%.

And because of the tariff war with Canada, Ferguson’s largest and longest-standing Canadian customer canceled its orders for 2025 and likely will buy from one of his competitors in Sweden, he said.

“I don’t have cash reserves like big companies to wait for these purported benefits of tariffs to take place,” Ferguson said. “I have a payroll for my six employees in two days, and I don’t think that tariffs on steel are going to increase domestic production and lower prices by Wednesday.”

Mary Chapman, co-owner of Sissle & Daughters Cheesemongers & Grocers in Portland, said the tariffs are threatening small-scale food producers across the globe, including cheese makers in the U.S. and abroad.

“And once these products go away because of tariffs, they very often don’t come back,” Chapman said. “It’s an attack on the U.S. food system, on the real handmade nonindustrial food that makes our culture unique.”