The Chamber of Commerce, usually a strong supporter of Republican economic policies, issues a dire warning to the White House: Stop the Trump tariffs or small businesses will be irreparably harmed.
|
Listen To This Story
 |
The Chamber of Commerce, hardly a bastion of progressivism, urgently appealed to the White House economic team that the administration must provide “immediate relief” to small businesses fighting for survival.
In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and US trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the day that it was announced that the gross domestic product contracted in the first quarter of the year, the Chamber is leaving no doubt that the Trump tariffs could have a devastating impact on small businesses… not in the long term, but right now.
While Suzanne Clark, the president and CEO of a group that is usually one of the key supporters of Republicans and their economic policies, tried to cast Donald Trump’s trade war in a positive light, the underlying message was clear: Help small businesses now or else.
As is required when dealing with this administration, her letter began with a bunch of pandering about the importance of reducing trade barriers and reaching bilateral trade agreements. However, Clark soon got to the point.
“Quickly and successfully concluding these negotiations – and ending the US tariffs imposed in the year to date – is critical given the negative impact recent tariffs are having on the US economy, employers, and American families,” Clark wrote.
In plain English, that means: “Your tariffs are wrecking the economy, so please end this nonsense now.”
Clark noted that the Chamber hopes that the dozens of trade agreements that the administration has promised can be concluded quickly, but that small businesses do not have the luxury of waiting for that to happen (if it ever does).
“[We] are deeply concerned that even if it only takes weeks or months to reach agreements, many small businesses will suffer irreparable harm,” Clark stated. “The Chamber is hearing from small business owners every day who are seeing their ability to survive endangered by the recent increase in tariff rates.”
Trump, of course, has promised that his tariffs would usher in a golden age and bring in vast riches that may make income taxes obsolete. And the cost for all of this will be borne by foreign companies while Americans and their businesses thrive.
That is not how the influential group sees things.
“The Chamber requests the administration take immediate action to save America’s small businesses and stave off a recession,” Clark wrote.
Of course, that recession may already be here.
Specifically, the group wants small businesses who are importing goods to automatically be excluded from paying these tariffs (it bears repeating that Trump maintains that they are not paying for them at all, so it might be tough for the administration to acknowledge this).
The Chamber also wants all products that cannot be produced in the US, or are not available from domestic sources, to be excluded. Clark names things like coffee or some minerals as examples.
Finally, noting that 40 million American jobs depend on trade, the group wants the White House to establish a process that allows businesses to get relief from the Trump tariffs if they can demonstrate that these jobs are at risk.
However, it seems as though the group’s pleas are falling on deaf ears in the White House… at least initially.
White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, when asked about the Chamber’s initiative, told reporters that small businesses would get relief “in the form of the largest tax cut in American history.”
That will undoubtedly be welcome news for all of those small business owners forced to shut their doors in the coming weeks, and for the Americans they employed.
In his Navigating the Insanity columns, Klaus Marre provides the kind of hard-hitting, thought-provoking, and often humorous analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
