How Trump's tariffs are squeezing small businesses

On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti

WBUR

Talk Show, Daily News, News, Npr, On Point, Daily

4.2 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff strategy has created uncertainty around the world. Can America’s 35 million small businesses stay afloat?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this podcast comes from Is Business Broken, a podcast from the Mayrotra Institute at BU Questrum School of Business that asks the thorny questions necessary for this moment.
0:11.6	Follow Is Business Broken and stay tuned for new episodes this fall.
0:17.2	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:27.9	This is on point. I'm Magna Chakrabardi.
0:33.2	How are the Trump administration's tariffs affecting America's small businesses?
0:40.3	Tariffs this year have us in a pretty weird spot. These tariffs have been, they've been a problem for sure.
0:47.3	It's very bad out there.
0:49.3	All of the prices, my ingredients, my packaging has gone way up.
0:57.0	Astronomical prices.
0:59.0	It's really affected our ability to get inventory without taking a hit.
1:05.0	Our suppliers have told us that they are eating the tariff costs.
1:09.0	And I'm extremely worried that this is not a sustainable
1:12.1	business model for them. I want to keep my products affordable for people. However, I've had to
1:19.5	raise my prices. Those were small business owners and on-point listeners, Alex in New Orleans,
1:27.3	Vishnu in Washington, D.C., Mike in
1:30.0	Great Neck, New York, Patricia in Grand Junction, Colorado, Marty in Ventura, California, and
1:35.7	Brandy in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And joining us now is another small business owner, Katrina Golden.
1:44.1	She's founder and CEO of Little Mama's
1:46.0	sweets and treats, a bakery and coffee shop in Augusta, Georgia. Katrina, welcome to On Point.
1:52.4	Thank you for having me. Let's start by hearing a little bit of the story of how you founded
1:56.8	and why and when you founded Little Mamas. Well, we started in 2019 after I retired from the federal government.
2:05.7	I decided that I wanted to bake cakes and share my love of baking with everybody else.
	...

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