ATLANTA — It’s been a year since “Liberation Day,” the sweeping tariffs enacted under the Trump administration.
Channel 2’s Eryn Rogers was live off of Moreland Avenue for WSB Tonight at 11 p.m.
She spoke to some small business owners about the impact they’ve seen over the past year.
One of those businesses is Stuff We Wanna Say in Little Five Points.
The owner says her store used to be filled with custom products. But she says her shelves are the empties they’ve because it’s been harder to manufacture them.
“I feel like I’m going backwards,” Patrice Hull said.
She has spent 14 years in business, sporting her brand Created 2 B Noticed. But for most of this year, she felt she was fighting to be seen.
“It got even worse when I realized it was going to put another 20% or more on that product that I’m already strained to purchase,” Hull said.
Thursday marked a year since “Liberation Day,” when President Donald Trump announced import taxes on nearly every country in the world.
“We’re simply rebalancing and restructuring. I can guarantee you that the margin will find its bottom,” said Peter Navarro, Senior Trade Adviser, last year about the sweeping tariffs.
But a year later, small business owners say they’re still struggling.
“My duty tax to for my imports went from $10,000 last year to $55,000, so that is a substantial increase to a company that is already operating on low margins,” said Travis Reid, who owns Square 1 Art, which digitizes children’s artwork for schools across the country to use for fundraisers.
“It’s not just the direct import costs. As small businesses, you’re absorbing all of the downstream increases from all of your vendors,” Reid said.
He says the tariffs aren’t sustainable for business owners or the consumers.
“It’s been really stressful. Now, I’ve learned to pivot,” Reid said.
Hull says social media saved her business.
“Now people are more comfortable with pre-ordering and ordering online,” she said.
But they say if costs continue to go up, “you’re just going to see more and more small businesses go out of business, and that’s not good for anybody.”
In February, the U.S. Supreme Court made a ruling, striking down some of the president’s tariffs.
Business owners don’t think that helped.
The president signed an executive order to impose a 10% tariff on all imports, but that expires in July.
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