Chamber of Commerce says small businesses cannot survive tariff hikes

How Trump tariffs wounded tiny businesses

How Trump's tariffs could interaction American tiny businesses 06:23

As Small Business Month kicks off, the Chamber of Commerce is speaking retired against the Trump administration's commercialized policy, saying precocious imposed tariffs could bash superior harm to America's Main Street.

In a letter sent to the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent connected Wednesday, Suzanne Clark, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, asks for an "automatic exclusion" from caller tariffs for U.S. tiny businesses that import goods from abroad. Small businesses bash not person the borderline oregon superior reserves to past an summation successful tariffs, Clark wrote successful the letter.

"The Chamber requests the medication instrumentality contiguous enactment to prevention America's tiny businesses and stave disconnected a recession," she wrote.

The Trump administration's tariff policies have raised economists' expectations of a imaginable recession, though the U.S is successful the wide for the clip being. The International Monetary Fund successful its World Economic Outlook said it does not expect the U.S. to participate a recession successful 2025. 

Clark added that tariffs could origin "irreparable harm" to the tiny concern assemblage if commercialized deals are not reached soon. Products from astir countries are presently taxable a 10% tariff, portion products from China look a overmuch steeper levy of up to 145%.

In an interrogation with Time magazine past week, President Trump said that commercialized deals would beryllium reached successful the "next 3 to 4 weeks." In the meantime, tiny businesses are being forced to marque hard decisions astir however to run amid uncertainty arsenic a effect of on-and-off tariffs. One concern proprietor who precocious spoke to CBS MoneyWatch said she fears her institution whitethorn person to adjacent up store for good.

Small and mid-sized businesses relationship for $868 cardinal successful imports, according to the Wall Street Journal which cites information from the U.S Census Bureau.

Existential threat

If tariffs persist, tiny concern owners could extremity up passing disconnected the outgo to customers successful the signifier of higher prices, arsenic ample corporations specified arsenic Amazon, Temu and Shein have done successful caller weeks. However, dissimilar with immense corporations, immoderate declines successful user spending arsenic a effect of higher prices would spell fiscal catastrophe for galore tiny businesses, which  run nether choky margins. In fact, 43% of tiny concern owners said their companies would not past if they fell abbreviated connected gross for 3 to 4 months, according to a caller TD Bank survey.

"The Chamber is proceeding from tiny concern owners each time who are seeing their quality to past endangered by the caller accrued successful tariff rates," Clark said successful the missive to the Trump administration.

This isn't the concern community's archetypal bid for tariff relief. Senator Ed Markey, ranking subordinate of the U.S. Senate Committee connected Small Business and Entrepreneurship, sent a letter last week to the Small Business Administration (SBA) calling connected the Trump medication to assistance tariff exemptions to Main Street.

"These businesses simply bash not person the fiscal cushion to sorb terms shocks oregon the resources to navigate abrupt changes to an already analyzable proviso channel," Markey wrote.