Trump vs. 'Our Passion and Our Livelihood'

An article in The Idaho Statesman focuses on the small businessmen nationwide who are bearing the brunt of Donald Trump's fixation on import taxes, aka tariffs. Several affected business owners recently gathered for a news conference in Washington, D.C. that they aptly named "We Pay the Tariffs." Two of the interviewees in particular should give Trump's congressional lapdogs pause.

The first of these is Mike Buechi, who specializes in Thai cuisine, which includes ingredients that cannot be sourced in the United States:

"We've been doing this since 2008, and the grocery business is pretty tough without tariffs," Buechi said. "And the tariffs that we have to pay now make it basically impossible to continue the business."

That rate at least is significantly lower than the 36% level Trump announced in April, but it's still too much to make Mike's a financially viable business.

"I've had to stop ordering product from Thailand because I just can't really afford to pay the tariffs that are necessary, and also we wouldn't make any profit," Buechi said. "So our business is most likely going out of business... [bold added]

Buechi's business partner added later, "This is our passion and our livelihood."

It is wrong, not to mention against the priciples of our founding, that the whims of one person can do this to productive, law-abiding individuals.

A mango importer suddenly having to pay 49% tariffs is in the same boat for the same reason.

But Trump's import taxes aren't just hitting those with cosmopolitan tastes. People -- apparently also including Trump supporters -- in the business of providing ordinary goods like luggage are also in the crosshairs:

Tiffany Zarfas Williams, third-generation owner of The Luggage Shop of Lubbock [talked] about the uncertainty of the tariffs and how they hit small businesses harder.

"I do understand and respect my president's desire to have good trade policy," she said. "We've been asked to weather the short-term pain for the long-term gain, but I've just had a hard time seeing exactly what the long term looks like and what exactly that means, and is it worth the risk of losing small local businesses like ours in the process."

So far, only the courts and Democratic congressmen appear to be listening. It has thus come to me having to quote a Democrat on the carnage Republicans seemed to know until yesterday that taxes and an unstable business climate can cause. Says Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington: "If relief doesn't come fast enough, millions of jobs will be lost and livelihoods will be decimated."

-- CAV