Business owners reacted with shock and concern on Wednesday to the sweeping series of tariffs Donald Trump announced on all U.S. trading partners.
Despite the Trump administration framing the measures as a way to bolster U.S. manufacturing, those within American industry warned the tariffs might do the opposite.
“Manufacturers are scrambling to determine the exact implications for their operations,” National Association of Manufacturers president and CEO Jay Timmons said in a statement on Wednesday. “The stakes for manufacturers could not be higher.”
The tariffs, which Trump continues to erroneously claim will mean other countries paying the U.S., will in fact “threaten investment, jobs, supply chains, and, in turn, America’s ability to outcompete other nations and lead as the preeminent manufacturing superpower,” according to Timmons.
Other industry leaders had a similar outlook.
The National Restaurant Association warned the tariffs “will create change and disruption,” as small business owners struggled with increased prices.
“Many restaurant operators source as many domestic ingredients as they can, but it’s simply not possible for U.S. farmers and ranchers to produce the volumes needed to support consumer demand,” the group’s CEO Michelle Korsmo said in a statement.
“What we have heard from business of all sizes, across all industries, from around the country is that these broad tariffs are a tax increase that will raise prices for American consumers and hurt the economy,” the U.S. Chamber of Commerce added in a statement of its own.
“This is catastrophic for American families,” Matt Priest, president and chief executive of the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America, told The New York Times. “We had hoped the president would take a more targeted approach, but these broad tariffs will only drive-up costs, reduce product quality and weaken consumer confidence.”
Political reaction to the tariff plan — which includes 25 percent tariffs on imported autos, 10 percent “baseline” tariffs on all imports, and double-digit reciprocal tariffs on numerous individual nations — was split on predictable partisan lines, though a handful of Senate Republicans joined all Democrats in the upper house for a largely symbolic vote Wednesday evening to reject the national emergency determination the Trump administration has used to justify tariffs on Canada.
Democratic critics of Trump hammered the president, arguing the tariffs would do the opposite of the Republican’s campaign promises to lower prices and aid American families.
Rep. Nydia Velazquez of New York warned in a post on X directed at Trump of the “working families, small businesses, and everyday Americans getting crushed by your half-baked trade war.”
Others emphasized that the tariffs, which, despite Trump’s claims to the contrary, are paid by U.S. companies importing goods, functionally act as tax hikes on U.S. consumers.
“Donald Trump just imposed the largest tax hike in our lifetime,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday on X.
Liberal political commentator Jonathan Chait argued in The Atlantic that Trump, whose tariff plans sent stocks declining after hours and raised fears of a recession, “might become the first one to kill off a healthy economy through an almost universally foreseeable unforced error.”
Some cheered the economic overhaul.
“He’s resetting the negotiating table. He’s resetting the deck here,” Rep. Andy Ogles, Republican of Tennessee, said in a video statement on Wednesday, adding, “At the end of the day, I know Trump is going to be proactive. He’s going to put America First and put American workers first, which is what we should do.”
“Today’s tariff action will cement President Trump’s legacy as one that ushered in a new Golden Age of American industrialization and prosperity,” Nick Iacovella of the Coalition for a Prosperous America said on X. “Absolutely massive day for those of us that care about strengthening our nation’s industrial capacity and creating working-class jobs.”
On the international front, leaders also showed concern.
“It is the American people who will pay the biggest price for these unjustified tariffs,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said after Trump’s announcement.
“We will do everything we can to work towards an agreement with the United States, with the goal of avoiding a trade war that would inevitably weaken the West in favor of other global players,” added Italty’s Giorgia Meloni.