Small Businesses Face Growing Uncertainty Under Tariffs

For many small businesses, tariffs do not just mean higher costs. They also create uncertainty that makes it harder to plan investments, manage inventory, maintain customer relationships, and focus on long-term growth.

Preliminary results from the new We Pay the Tariffs survey found that, because of tariffs, nearly 55% of respondents delayed or cancelled expansion or investment plans.

One small business described how the financial strain from tariffs forced the company to put growth initiatives on hold:

• “We have simply been struggling to keep the business going and struggling to provide for our family. I had plans to explore new marketing strategies, but cannot afford the help I need from an ad agency.”

Another business with 7 employees explained how tariffs have consumed both financial and operational resources:

• “So much time has been spent figuring out how to cover the cost of tariffs, how much to raise prices to stay solvent, how much to absorb, explaining tariffs to customers, using loans and lines of credit, all on top of trying to run my small business.”

For many businesses, the unpredictability surrounding tariffs can be just as damaging as the tariffs themselves:

• “The abrupt nature [of these tariffs that] were thrust upon small and medium size American businesses who need months if not years to plan for the dramatic impacts these policies have on cash flow, supply chains, inventory planning, R&D.”

  
  

• “Our costs went up. Some customers accepted price increases, some did not and went to other suppliers. Some discontinued business with us and some continue to buy at lower volume. One of our largest customers stopped buying from us because they did not want to take on the ‘instability of an import.’”

These are the types of experiences we seek to capture in our new survey – with the end goal of publishing a major tariff report. The more responses received, the more robust our results will be. 

Please add your experience by answering now and/or sharing this link with others that might be willing to respond.

Take the Survey