President Donald Trump’s monster 145% tariffs on Chinese imports are spreading much pain, yet it’s not Trump’s billionaire chums who are suffering the most.
No, it’s the little folks getting slammed — the very people who voted for him and make up the backbone of the country and his base.
Look at the stories that have flooded our desks in recent days — of mom-and-pop shops with deep trading ties to China that simply can’t afford the tens, or hundreds, of thousands in new tariffs.
They don’t have Walmart’s bargaining power to force their Chinese suppliers to take on most of the new cost.
Nor can they afford the million-dollar donations or the membership fee that buys you a table at Mar-a-Lago to plead for relief. Or the pricey K Street lobbyists who can push Trump to get you a carve out.
Instead, voiceless and powerless, these businesses are laying off workers, hiking prices, preparing to shed inventory or close up shop altogether.
“In two months, I’ll probably shut down” if nothing changes, frets Sari Wiaz, who owns Baby Paper, which sells toys from China.
Katrina Marshall had to pause an upcoming shipment to her Artistic Toys and Promotions, thanks to a $403,000 tariff charge. The company planned layoffs this week.
Think about it: For every $100 importers spent just weeks ago on Chinese goods — clothing, furniture, toys, home appliances — they’ll now have to shell out a whopping $245.
That makes their business models unworkable in an instant. Try telling them that they should sacrifice their livelihoods and that of their staff for some distant “Golden Age.”
They live in the now, and right now they’re hurting.
Yes, they could pass along the extra cost by boosting prices, but customers will balk. (Those customers are also low- and moderate-income families who can’t afford price hikes.)
They might seek production sources elsewhere, as larger firms have. But the shift could take a year or more — time they don’t have.
And the problem’s widespread: The US toy industry alone gets 80% of its goods from the People’s Republic. About a third of all imported apparel and accessories had Chinese origins in 2022.
(Does The US have to become a toy and clothing manufacturing powerhouse anyway to succeed?!)
Trump’s right to target China — for its mercantilism and other abuses. Tariffs of 10% to 20% — or higher in certain targeted or strategic sectors — are manageable.
But to suddenly impose tariffs of such magnitude, hitting so much of the US economy in such a topsy-turvy manner, will unfairly take a toll on people who just can’t afford it.
Note, too: Small businesses account for 44% of US GDP and employ nearly half the workforce. The tariff’s working-class victims make up a major part of Trump’s voting base.
Surely the prez doesn’t want to hand Congress to Democrats in next year’s midterms, does he?
Beware the bubble, Mr. President: You’re surrounded by an “I’m alright, Jack” class of people well-insulated from the financial shocks; they have no clue about how the surcharges are clobbering small-biz owners and their patrons.
If the White House doesn’t wake up fast to the growing angst, the fallout — economic and political — will be rapid, deep and lasting.