Small business owners say the Trump tariffs have had a negative impact on their bottom line this year. (Photo: Stock photo/Getty Images)
After two and a half hours of arguments before the nation’s highest court, the wait begins. Small business owners and entrepreneurs opposed to President Donald Trump’s tariffs are closely watching whether the U.S. Supreme Court will allow or block Trump’s sweeping tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
The Trump administration says the tariffs are necessary to rectify steep trade imbalances with China and other trading partners. But opponents from across the political spectrum argue the tariffs amount to taxation, a power granted by the U.S. Constitution only to Congress, not the president.
Pittsboro entrepreneur Joshua Esnard thought he was living the American Dream. Then the tariffs hit.
Joshua EsnardEsnard is the CEO and founder of The Cut Buddy, a shaping tool for haircuts and beards. His innovative product line and entrepreneurial spirit won a deal on the TV show “Shark Tank” in 2017.
Esnard believed this would be the year that his small business would be profitable enough to move toward expansion.
“A lot of my products are tools like clippers, shavers and trimmers. We do not manufacture these parts in the United States,” he said. “If we did, the product would cost $400 or $500.”
To keep his products affordable, Esnard turned to China for production.
“Earlier this year when we faced 150% tariffs, I was facing major purchase orders from Walmart, Target and CVS,” Esnard said. “Imagine having all those goods on the water and then facing that tariff when your products arrive.”
To keep his product in major retailers, he spent over $600,000 on tariffs this year when he had anticipated spending no more than $80,000.
The Cut Buddy has cut consultants and reluctantly cut staff, hoping to avoid shifting the cost of tariffs to price-conscious consumers.
Esnard has taken out merchant cash advance loans to cover the unexpected tariffs. He calls the loans predatory, and worries what will happen to the broader economy when small businesses like his eventually default.
“This is subprime happening again,” Esnard said. “All of us are taking out loans to pay for these tariffs.”
Razor-thin profits squeezed even further
Mary Carol Dodd, a certified organic vegetable farmer in western North Carolina, never envisioned she’d be glued to a case on presidential powers, but she is.
Mary Carol Dodd“We grow high value crops and sell them for a CSA program, farmers markets, and local restaurants. These across-the-board tariffs have had a real impact on small farms like mine,” Dodd said on Tuesday.
Dodd is the owner of Red Scout Farm near Black Mountain, farming on land her family has owned for 125 years. Once she started talking to her suppliers, she realized just how many of the products that they use come from overseas.
“Supplies we depend on come from Canada, Mexico, and India, things like greenhouse materials, potting soil, tools, seeds, and insect netting,” Dodd explained. “Our plastic bags, woven ground cover and insect netting have all increased by at least 10%, an AC unit replacement for a walk-in cooler has increased by 50%, and the t-shirts, tanks and hoodies that our staff wear and we sell to our customers have increased by about 30%.”
Profit margins are already razor thin, so every increase means tough choices.
The small, diversified farm must decide whether to raise prices for customers or cut costs elsewhere, likely at the expense of better pay for its workers.
Surviving Helene only to face a new storm
To add insult to injury, as Western North Carolina residents rebuild from hurricane Helene, the tariffs have increased the raw cost of building materials, fixtures, and appliances.
Benjamin Colvin“Insurance adjusters, they came last fall to farms, homes and businesses, and insurance claims were paid based on building costs at that time,” Dodd said. “When tariffs came into effect in the spring and summer, the cost of the materials rose, and now insurance checks are not sufficient to complete rebuilding projects. This is a huge problem, not just for farmers and small business owners, but anyone trying to rebuild.”
Devil’s Foot co-founder Benjamin Colvin couldn’t agree more.
Colvin said his Asheville craft-soda business slowly built back from Helene in 2024, only to be confronted with an economic storm in 2025.
This month he saw organic cane sugar, a key ingredient in his product, jump 10 cents a pound. Aluminum tariffs have increased costs by an additional 10% to 20%.
“From craft soda to beer to kombucha to anything that’s using aluminum packaging, we’re all getting hit,” said Colvin.
When the local chamber of commerce purchased his sodas for a trade show in Canada, Devil’s Foot was met by a three-day hold in a retaliatory response to the Trump tariffs.
“One of our founding tenets is protecting people and the planet. And that means trying to get your farm-to-can soda in the hands of people, instead of very high sugar, high fructose, artificially flavored things, and it’s really hard to do that when you keep having to increase prices and pass it on to the consumer.”
The Trump administration has indicated that should the Supreme Court block the president’s use of executive powers in this case, they will seek another route to continue the tariffs. Trump’s tariffs have reportedly generated nearly $195 billion in revenue this fiscal year.
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