Chaos and uncertainty: Americas small businesses reel from Trumps tariffs – National [Video]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – U.S. retailers are feeling the blunt impacts of President Donald Trump’s tariffs on imports.

Virginia toy store owner Amy Rutherford says 80 per cent of toys are made in China.

“Even if we’re buying it from a French company, it’s made in China,” she said.

Rutherford warns that Trump’s 145 per cent tariff on Chinese imports will soon price her merchandise out of reach for most consumers. She used a stuffed animal as an example: It normally retails for US$28, but tariffs will raise the price to nearly $75.

“I wouldn’t pay $75 for it,” she said.

It’s the same story down the street at Rutherford’s other business: a stationery store, where greeting cards and paper products from Canada feature prominently.

Those products are temporarily exempt from Trump’s threatened 25 per cent tariff on Canada, but the risk of duties returning is taking a toll.

“Certainty is not a thing we’re relying on right now,” she …