Emily Byrne Featured in Article on Tariff Impacts

Designer Emily Byrne (BFA ​’14) is the subject of a Jackson Hole News & Guide article about the impact of the Trump administration’s recently implemented tariff increases on small businesses. The Himalayan salt alarm clocks Byrne created for her startup company Rise Centered, which are manufactured in China, now face a 145% import tariff. 

For Emily Byrne, the clock is ticking.

Two years ago, she started her own business, Rise Centered, a company that aims to help customers break up with their cell phones. Her primary product is a digital sunrise alarm clock that starts the wake up process with soft LED light that emanates from an orb of Himalayan salt, before playing soft nature sounds. The experience is intended to contrast iPhones’ and Androids’ many blaring alarms.

But in the past few weeks, the Trump administration’s tariff policy, intended to encourage manufacturers to return to America, has upended her small Jackson Hole business, a company that manufactures its product in China.

Trump administration’s China tariffs smack Jackson Hole clock maker | Jackson Hole News & Guide