This is John Batchler, conversation about tariffs and who pays with my colleague Gene Marks,

the small business columnist for The Guardian, for the Philadelphia Inquirer, other distinguished

publications. Who pays is a debate. There are anecdotes, and I tell one, that the consumer pays.

There are other stories that the manufacturer pays.

Certainly right now, the weight looks to be on those who say the consumer pays.

But we'll see over these coming weeks as tariffs change again.

Here's Gene to explain where we are now.

And what small businesses believe is the cost of doing business much more than I yeah I hear

frustration on the businesses I talk to that they're not getting a straight answer from the

administration I mean it is basic common sense that if your their cost of tariffs go up and

countries then are increasing their, you know,

we're increasing tariffs on foreign goods as it is, it's a higher price.

Somebody's going to have to pay that.

And it's either the company that's paying a higher price or it's a, you know, it's,

you know, the consumer in the end.

I mean, it's just, it's just basic economics.

And so it is a little bit insulting for the administration to say, no, you know, that's not, you know, consumers won't be paying this.

It'll be people from other countries that will be paying it. Now, you know, I mean, again,

you know, maybe that's going to impact the other countries, those companies, or maybe they bring

their business here.

They manufacture these pillows in the U.S. I don't know.

But at least now for the short term, it is absolutely on the shoulders of consumers and American businesses.

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