South Fort Myers tree planting organization takes hard hit from China tariffs

When Wil Revehl began his campaign “One tree.Org” just three years ago, he made it his mission to plant as many trees as possible to combat deforestation.

“That’s our flagship campaign: to try to build awareness and fund tree plantings,” he said.

In order to keep up with his mission, he funded his campaign through donations from custom made bags. They’re aesthetic, dual lined- and made in China.

“I had never considered tariff’s, nobody mentioned tariffs,” said Revehl.

The tariffs he’s referring to are the ones the U.S. placed on some goods exported from China. Because of a trade war, the 2,000 bags were tagged with a 25% tax.

“We had already paid for the bags, they were already put in boxes on a cargo ship and then at this point, I’m talking to the customs broker in Miami and he goes, “Keep in mind you’re under the categories for the tariff,'” he said.

Now, those tariffs are costing the organization thousands of dollars.

“He goes, ‘It’s 25%,’ and I’m like, ‘Of what,’” said Revehl. “He goes, ‘Of the invoice.’ And I thought to myself, my God, this is a $4,500 invoice.”

Regardless, Revehl says he’s determined to get the bags to donors. Thanks to the help of the community, he can.

“The travesty is like, we’re such a small organization. We’re asking a small pool of people to help with these tariffs. Tariffs don’t plant trees,” he said.

He says he was able to break even this time, but he worries for the future.

“What happens now, heading into the next quarter or whatever, when we ask for another donation,” he said. “We’re going to ultimately not be able to plant as many trees as we would like.”

Unless he’s able to find another way.

Revehl says they plan to pick up the bags from U.S. Customs next weekend. There are still some available for purchase.

If you’d like to help the organization, visit their website, onetree.org.