When workers are profiled, bullied, and harassed
Marketplace All-in-One
Marketplace
4.5 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 19 February 2026
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
In a conversation with the owner of a Portland-based construction firm, something disturbing was revealed: One reason he can't retain the workers he needs is that random bigots are profiling his staff as immigrants and harassing them when they have to leave the jobsite to, for instance, pick up materials. This morning, we’ll hear his account. But first, the tariffs that mid-sized companies are paying nearly tripled starting early last year.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | A new cost to businesses, bigots on the street, hassling employees because they think they're immigrants. |
| 0:08.4 | I'm David Brown-Cachio in Los Angeles. Good morning to you. First, there's new data today on how the Trump administration's tariff policy is affecting businesses. |
| 0:17.0 | The J.P. Morgan Chase Institute dug into its data on mid-size businesses, which it defines as having between 50 and about 500 workers or $10 million to $1 billion in revenue and found that those mid-sized companies' tariff payments nearly tripled starting early last year. Marketplace's senior Washington correspondent Kimberly Adams reports. |
| 0:38.3 | Mid-sized businesses are often regional business anchors, says Chi Mack, business research director |
| 0:43.8 | at J.P. Morgan Chase Institute. And with their tariff payments tripling in the last year? |
| 0:49.6 | They can only absorb it if they have been absorbing it for so long. This is going to come out in potentially |
| 0:55.7 | lower profit margins. They may be looking to pass on the cost to their customers. These businesses |
| 1:02.9 | often don't have the same flexibility as larger firms to switch up their supply chains, says Odette |
| 1:08.7 | Shanker, who teaches management and human resources at the Ohio State University. |
| 1:13.6 | Smaller players typically have less wiggle room because they have less alternative. They often serve a single market. |
| 1:20.9 | They sometimes have a single or a very limited range of product. |
| 1:24.6 | And that holds true for even smaller businesses. Julie Robbins is CEO of |
| 1:28.8 | Earthquaker devices in Akron, Ohio, which manufactures guitar effects pedals. It's already paid |
| 1:35.0 | almost $80,000 in new tariffs since the spring. We've developed the supply chain over 20 years, |
| 1:41.3 | and just because the administration thinks we should be doing something differently, |
| 1:45.5 | the reality doesn't exist. Robbins expects that this year, that tariff bill will creep close to |
| 1:51.4 | $200,000. She's already had to raise prices once and anticipates another price hike coming soon. |
| 1:58.8 | In Washington, I'm Kimberly Adams for Marketplace. |
| 2:02.3 | And White House Economic Advisor Kevin Hassett is unhappy with a separate Federal Reserve Bank |
| 2:07.2 | of New York study that finds that we are paying the cost of most of the taxes on imported |
| 2:11.7 | goods, those higher tariffs we were just discussing. Hassett says the authors should be |
| 2:16.9 | punished. Worst paper I've ever seen, |
... |
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