We Pay the Tariffs: Shaping the Narrative When it Mattered Most

Tariff policy often enters the public conversation at critical moments — during major court cases, peak shopping seasons, or national discussions about prices and affordability. In 2025, We Pay the Tariffs worked to ensure that when tariffs were in the spotlight, small businesses were part of the story.

WPTT hosted multiple press calls focused on the real-world impacts of tariffs. These included calls centered on the Supreme Court case challenging tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), where small business owners explained how prolonged trade uncertainty and rising costs affected their operations. By pairing legal developments with firsthand economic impacts, the coalition helped ground complex policy debates in lived experience.

During the holiday season, WPTT also engaged the press around the impact of tariffs on consumer goods. As tariffs raised the cost of imported inputs and finished products, small businesses shared how these costs translated into higher prices, tighter margins, and difficult decisions during a critical sales period. These conversations helped connect trade policy to everyday purchases and household budgets.

In addition to press calls, WPTT issued press releases highlighting data and stories from small businesses at moments when affordability and economic conditions were central to the national dialogue. By responding quickly with credible data and real-world examples, the coalition ensured that claims about prices and costs were met with on-the-ground perspectives from the businesses paying the tariffs.

As a result of this press outreach, many small business owners were featured in national news outlets, including NPR, CNN, and CNBC, among others. These appearances gave business owners a national platform to speak directly about how tariffs affected their companies, employees, and customers — in their own words. By creating consistent opportunities for small businesses to engage directly with the media, WPTT helped shift the tariff conversation toward lived experience. 

Through consistent, timely media engagement, WPTT helped shift how tariffs were discussed — not as abstract tools of trade policy, but as direct costs borne by small businesses and consumers. In 2025, when the conversation turned to tariffs, WPTT was there to make sure the small business perspective was impossible to ignore.