Study: Small Businesses Strained More by Tariffs
Small businesses have to hike prices more due to imports compared with large companies, and also are likely to face a higher tariff burden because of their lack of leverage with suppliers, according to an analysis published this week by the American Action Forum's Jacob Jensen.
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The forum is a center-right think tank.
The analysis uses both banking notes and Federal Reserve Bank studies to support its conclusions. The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta said that small businesses expect sales to be nearly 9% lower compared with normal, due to higher tariff costs, and large firms expected a drop of 3.5%.
Jensen wrote, "In response to President Trump’s frequently shifting tariff policy, many U.S. importers turned to customs brokers to help navigate compliance, increasing demand for their services, and driving skyrocketing broker costs." He linked to a Reuters story that said, in his words, "the fees charged per Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) code that independent brokers use to classify a shipment have typically ranged between $4–$7, but have increased by as much as $1–$5 over the past few months."
He estimated that small businesses will pay more than $85 billion in tariffs in a year under the current tariff regime.