Global business markets were shaken on April 2 when President Trump announced a 10% Global Tariff, with higher levels Reciprocal Tariffs imposed on dozens of specific countries. Since the announcement, about 50 countries have contacted the White House to begin negotiations. One country—China—chose retaliation, with the Trump Administration’s response set to bring the total U.S. tariff on Chinese goods to an eye-watering 104%.
The dietary supplements industry is heavily reliant on China for many of its ingredients, and while a number of ingredients, from vitamins and minerals to amino acids and Coenzyme Q10, were included on an exempted list, many ingredients remain at the mercy of the new tariffs.
“It [the exemption list] represents maybe 20, 25 ingredients out of a total of thousands,” said Loren Israelsen, founder and president of the United Natural Products Alliance (UNPA) during an interview at the International Conference on the Science of Botanicals (ICSB) in Oxford, MS. “Botanicals are not represented. Their tariff rates right now are high, among the highest we see within all of our dietary ingredient spectrum. Consequently, this is where we see the highest adulteration too.
“Unfortunately, it’s that trifecta: [Botanicals are] vulnerable to market conditions and sole source or even double source, the risks of adulteration and high [tariff] rates to begin with. So, I think the botanical industry is going to have some real challenges.
”First and foremost, I’m really concerned about product quality and safety. That has to be paramount. Clearly, we’ll need to work closely to find other sources.”
Israelsen added that a tariff of 10% can be spread throughout the supply chain without the consumer really feeling the impact, but with tariffs of 50% or 60% or even 70% on some botanicals—“we’re talking a tenfold increase over 10 years”, those kinds of rates cannot be absorbed by the supply chain and will have to be passed on to consumers.
‘This is a big deal’
“Forecasting, I think, is nearly impossible,” Israelsen said. “I mean, we’re looking at a daily exchange between the US and China, for example, [and] other countries that are anxious to come in and talk, and all of this is moving in fast motion.
“The stock market obviously can’t seem to get a sense of it, because today [April 7, 2025] was insane. The market was literally balancing up and down by hundreds of points within 15 to 20 minutes on the news, some of it fake, some of it real, but clearly a jitteriness that we have rarely seen from the stock market, which indicates this is serious. This is a big deal.”
Israelsen also took time to explain how tariffs are being calculated and the strategy for placing tariffs on everyone. Watch the video for the full interview.
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