Hurting Small Businesses May Be Costly: Patricia Lopez

The economic policies passed in the first six months of President Donald Trump’s term may yet bring a Golden Age, but so far they haven’t for small farms and businesses. According to an estimate by the right-leaning US Chamber of Commerce, Trump’s levies mean that small businesses will have to pay an extra $202 billion a year on tariffs,which works out to about $856,000 per company on average.

Small-business optimism soared on Trump’s victory and plunged when he announced tariffs; the right-leaning NFIB Small Business Optimism Index has recovered somewhat since “Liberation Day” but has yet to reach the heights of Trump’s first ...