Ex-Shark Tank Star Exposes Consumer Sticker Shock Over 'Made In USA' Premiums After Tariff Surge: 'Not A Single Unit Sold'

Shark Tank Season 15 alumnus Ramon van Meer says the Trump-era tariff spike is exposing a hard truth about patriotic shopping: most buyers bolt when the price tag jumps.

What Happened: In a blog post published this week, the entrepreneur and founder of a water-filter brand named Afina, described a real-world A/B test in which 25,650 web visitors were shown identical filtered showerheads — one marked "Made in Asia" for $129, the other "Made in the USA" for $239.

"We created a secret landing page. … The only difference? One was labeled ‘Made in Asia' and priced at $129. The other, ‘Made in the USA,' at $239," he wrote. Not a single U.S.-made unit sold.

See also: Ray Dalio Dreams Of A ‘Beautiful Rebalancing’, Reveals He’s ‘Not Surprised’ By Beijing And Washington Talking Trade Again

Van Meer's costs soared after tariffs on Chinese imports jumped from 25% to as much as 170%, pushing his domestic production bill to nearly triple the overseas rate. Broader consumer-goods makers, from sneakers to showerheads, are dealing with the same math as President Donald Trump's second-term duties — 145% on most Chinese shipments — ripple through supply chains.​

Afina already sources its KDF-55 filter material in the United States, but labor and tooling in California still dwarf Asian quotes. "Supporting U.S. manufacturing becomes a luxury most can't afford — even if they want to," van Meer said, warning policymakers that "idealism doesn't always survive contact with a price tag."​

Why It Matters: The unhappy entrepreneur isn’t the only one disgruntled by the need to pivot. Mark Cuban, who’d co-invested in van Meer’s other company, ‘Genius Litter’ on the Shark Tank stage, recently posted on X, stating that the fate of U.S. manufacturing lies less with Washington and more with shoppers' wallets.

Cuban argued that Americans could have preserved factory jobs simply by buying only domestic goods, but didn’t. To test the theory, Cuban backed a browser extension that flagged U.S-made alternatives while users shopped online, but the tool fizzled because "no one cared," forcing the startup to pivot. The flop, he said, proves consumers talk about supporting local industry yet abandon that ideal at checkout.

Cuban now calls critics of offshoring "hypocrites" if they demand tariffs while filling carts with imports, urging them to "lead by example and get friends and family to do the same." Until buyers consistently choose American products, he concludes, nostalgia for lost factory jobs — and anger over tariffs — ring hollow.

Image via Shutterstock

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