We Pay the Tariffs Launches National Small Business Survey

We Pay the Tariffs has launched a new survey (also below) on small business tariff impacts, the IEEPA refunds/process, and future tariff expectations. Please help us reach our (lofty) goal of 500 respondents by May 15 by answering the survey now and/or sharing it with other impacted small businesses.

The end product will be a report with quantitative benchmarking and company anecdotes. No company-specific info will be published without explicit permission.   

The ~100 responses to date already provide fascinating insights on individual small business experiences. For example: 

• Nearly half of respondents have changed suppliers (or tried to) due to tariffs, but just 3% have identified viable U.S. suppliers. 

• Over 90% of respondents expect new tariffs to have very or somewhat negative impacts over the next year – and none expect positive impacts from tariffs. 

• Nearly 30% of respondents have laid off workers, which carries even more weight given the typical respondent has just 7 employees. 

  
  

In the words of a 13-employee company that has paid $759,293 (but who’s counting) in extra tariffs: 

“Our margins are drastically reduced as we can only pass so much onto the customer. We have only raised our prices about 6% and that's all we can afford to do without losing sales/market.  The owner has had to drain his IRA to bring the cash into the company.  We have reduced our inventory to try to compensate for that.”

Another 10-employee company that has paid $1.8 million in extra tariffs reported:

“We've had no choice but to increase MSRP twice. We've reduced headcount significantly, cut OPEX in every area, and marketing spend. [Without new tariffs], we would be realizing positive EBIT, however, we're losing money each month.”

The more responses, the more robust our results will be. Please add your experience by answering now and/or share this link with others that might be willing to respond. 

Take the Survey