How Randy Carr & World Emblem Are Mitigating the Impact of Tariffs
The CEO of the Counselor Top 40 supplier gets candid about the upheaval the import levies have caused and how his business is adapting.
Randy Carr has been through ups and downs in his approximately 35 years in business. The CEO of Counselor Top 40 supplier World Emblem (asi/98264) says that 2025, with its tariff-driven tumult, has been one of the definitive down periods.
“It’s a little like COVID,” says Carr. “It just has that same kind of creepy, eerie feel where it’s very disruptive.”
World Emblem, like so many other businesses in the promo products industry and beyond, is dealing with what Carr characterizes as the “chaotic” fallout from President Donald Trump’s barrage of new tariffs implemented or announced during the first four months of 2025. For World Emblem, this has included hundreds of thousands of dollars in what Carr says was erroneous levy charges.
Nonetheless, Carr isn’t throwing up his hands and bemoaning his fate. He and his team are working to navigate the storms, believing that those who can persist through the rough seas will emerge in all the better position once the weather turns. “The pie is going to be bigger when this is over for the people that can get through it,” Carr says. In this Promo Insiders podcast with ASI Media’s Christopher Ruvo, Carr discusses the strategies World Emblem is using to lessen the impact of tariffs and be among the firms that emerge in a stronger position.
Key Takeaways
• Tariff Confusion Costs: Randy Carr says the rollout of tariffs has been “chaotic,” causing challenges for businesses. One example: His firm, World Emblem (asi/98264), was hit with nearly $400,000 worth of erroneous charges tied to imports, Carr says.
• Strategic Shifts: World Emblem is working to optimize its supply chain to mitigate tariff impacts. This effort includes a focus on its Mexico-based production, which is exempted from levies due to being covered by the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and building a new factory in the Dominican Republic.
• Reshoring Challenges: Bringing promo production back to the U.S. at a massive scale would require huge investment in automation, infrastructure and training. Carr feels that, at least as far as his product range is concerned, this would likely raise product prices beyond market tolerance.
• Acquisition Issues: Last year, World Emblem acquired Hero’s Pride, a provider of emblem products for first responders. This increased World Emblem’s import exposure to China – the nation from which Hero’s Pride sources. Despite the 145% additional tariff on China in 2025 and other suppliers pausing importing from there, World Emblem has continued to bring in products from the nation. “We have clients to serve,” says Carr. “We’re just going to take that on the chin until we figure it out.”
• Damage Done? Carr is concerned that the tariffs could have lasting negative impacts on U.S. business relations with overseas partners. He felt this on a recent work trip to Europe. “The energy is different,” he says. “There’s a lot more ire, disappointment.”