President Donald Trump’s tariff agenda has roiled markets, panicked recession forecasters and triggered drastic measures from some of the world’s largest companies.
But the little guys ― like the small businesses in the Dallas-Fort Worth region ― are feeling the most intense heat. With uncertainty high, Main Street’s optimism fell last month, according to the NFIB’s latest survey of small businesses.
And with tariffs changing nearly weekly, small business owners are strained as they try to plan and make costly decisions.
“With the ‘on today/off tomorrow/back on in 90 days’ tariffs, it’s extremely difficult for businesses to plan out their supply chain on ordering and pricing,“ local small business owner David Burrows said.
”It only adds to destabilizing business operations and at a higher level, the entire U.S. economy.”
On April 2, Trump levied sweeping baseline tariffs of 10% on nearly every country as part of his “Liberation Day” economic offensive. The inclusion of “reciprocal” levies based on trade deficits sent global markets reeling, with the S&P 500 index dropping over 12% in the four trading days afterwards.
Wednesday, Trump announced a 90-day pause on the “reciprocal” tariffs, leaving the 10% across-the-board tariffs, industry-specific tariffs, certain tariffs on Mexico and Canada, and a 145% tariff on all Chinese imports.
Trump and allies believe tariffs can reinvigorate American manufacturing and help combat trade imbalances that the administration feels have been harmful to the U.S. However, small businesses have been caught in the crosshairs of those goals.
‘Hoping to leave a legacy’
Burrows and his wife, Margaret Burrows, who live in Richardson, started two businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic: Arkearth, a nonprofit helping people enhance their property to be friendly to pollinators; and Hivessence, an organic personal care brand featuring honey and other ingredients derived from Arkearth’s management of beehives.
The Burrows mostly source goods within the U.S. However, David Burrows told The Dallas Morning News in an email that some products come or include components from abroad, including specialized, scarce ingredients like Manuka honey that are necessarily imported.
Arkearth has also worked with artists in Ontario, Canada, on birdhouses and pollinator hotels, which could now be discontinued if tariffs make them cost-prohibitive.
“The tariffs are directly impacting our ability to purchase and price some items and in some cases, they will be completely eliminated from our stores,” he said.
Burrows and his wife were both laid off during the pandemic, he said, and they have dipped into their 401(k) funds to build these companies. The market turmoil has added even more stress, as they try to avoid using any more retirement money on the companies.
“We were hoping these concepts would be our ultimate retirement plan and to leave a legacy of sustainable businesses to the next generation,” he said.
“Because of these tariffs and an anticipated ‘domino effect’ on other sectors of the U.S. economy, we’re rethinking our expansion and investment plans for 2025 and beyond.”
‘I’m so angry’
There’s also an emotional component to the economic uncertainty. Carly Burson has built her company, LAUDE the Label, a sustainable clothing brand based in Fort Worth, over the course of a decade.
The headwinds her business now faces put its continued existence at risk. That affects the livelihoods of herself, her employees and the overseas artisans the brand works with.
“I’m so angry, and it’s hard to work through that,” she said. “I want to be able to lead my business with knowledge, with empathy, and I can’t do that right now. I just sort of feel like I’m throwing things at the wall and hoping that they stick.”
LAUDE the Label’s products are produced ethically and sustainably in Peru and India, she said. The administration’s reciprocal tariffs added a 37% increase to their costs nearly overnight.
Even with just the 10% across-the-board tariff, the brand will take a financial hit.
The company works predominantly with women in vulnerable communities, Burson said, and these communities and similar ones rely on jobs manufacturing goods for Americans to survive and thrive.
The owner is concerned that tariffs reducing or even eliminating these relationships could lead to a humanitarian crisis, and cripple American small businesses.
“We pay our makers fair but high wages, so we have already razor thin margins,” she said. “If the current tariff regime stays, we, along with most other small businesses in the US that import goods in from other countries, would absolutely cease to exist.”
Surcharges on Peru and India caught Burson off guard, she said, and the company has lost almost two full weeks of productivity as she and her team adjust the company’s business model, budget and projections to account for the tariffs.
However, because of the 90-day pause, they don’t currently know what to account for: a 10% tariff, or an additional 27%. That uncertainty is a major burden, she said, and has made the past week and a half “a nightmare.”
“We’re in a standstill where we’re kind of guessing, so we’re going to split the difference. We can’t raise prices by 27% because it’s going to price us out of the market,” she said.
Customers are also feeling their belts tighten, she said, and don’t want to spend money on luxuries like sustainable fashion.
As a result, so-called “fast fashion” ― a method of reproducing the latest catwalk fashions cheaply that’s been criticized for being environmentally and ethically destructive ― is making a comeback.
As Laude the Label tries to champion human rights and environmental responsibility, she said, “it just feels like everything we stand for is just being completely dismantled.”
She added: “Small businesses right now are really struggling. They deeply need consumers to step up and support them and believe in the types of businesses that we’re building and the communities that we’re supporting.”
