An entrepreneur facing skyrocketing costs due to tariffs conducted an experiment to see whether customers would voluntarily pay more for a product made in America.”The result was, unfortunately, disappointing,” Ramon van Meer told Fox News Digital. “We sold zero ‘Made in the USA’ shower heads.”Van Meer, a self-described “serial entrepreneur,” is the founder of Afina, which sells a shower head that filters chemicals and heavy metals out of tap water. The shower head, manufactured in China and Vietnam, currently sells for $129.But van Meer said as the cost of tariffs jumped to 170%, he wanted to test whether the company could successfully reshore manufacturing to the U.S.US ECONOMY SLOWS SHARPLY IN THE FIRST QUARTER AS TRUMP’S TARIFFS WEIGH HEAVILYHe found a U.S.-based company that could produce the shower heads — but at nearly triple the cost. To maintain Afina’s current profit margins, he listed the U.S. version side-by-side with the original with a brief explanation of the price difference, and gave customers the choice.”I wanted to really test what [customers will] do if it comes down to it. How would they vote with their wallets?” he said, adding that he anticipated customers would gravitate toward the cheaper option, but not
