Small businesses across the United States are preparing for the potential financial impact of President-elect Donald Trump‘s proposed tariffs.
His proposals include a possible 25 percent tax on all products from Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10 percent tariff on goods from China.
These measures––which he has said are aimed at addressing illegal immigration and drug trafficking––are expected by economists to increase costs for small businesses that rely on imported materials and goods. About two-thirds of all U.S. vegetable imports and half of fruit and nut imports come from Mexico, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Prior to his November victory, Trump told a rally in Michigan that “tariffs are the greatest thing ever invented.” He has also described the term “tariff” as “the most beautiful word in the dictionary.”
“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long simmering problem,” he later wrote on his platform Truth Social.
“It …