Americans are pissed off with Donald Trump’s $2,100 tax hike and the uncertainty caused by his chaotic economic policies. Trump’s tariff announcement almost immediately prompted layoff announcements from car maker Stellantis NV and the Whirlpool Corporation. Anxiety is high for everyone, from farmers to small business owners, trying to figure out how hard Trump’s tax hike will hit them.
Mario Duta, owner of Winestogo in New York, told reporters he didn’t think Trump’s plan was “beneficial for anybody.” Duta noted the small margins that local businesses operate on and predicted that the costs will be passed on to American families. “Nobody wants to pay two or three times more than what they would be paying today, in a month from now.”
A 10% universal tariff means Americans will pay more for everything from groceries to clothes to household appliances.
Many businesses are already absorbing the costs of Trump’s tax hike. Christine Greenberg, an owner of Urban Set Bride in South Carolina, said her company is absorbing the extra costs from importing wedding dresses from China. “A $2,000 dress, for example, we will need to increase by $200 to $500,” she said.
Trump’s cuts to the Department of Agriculture, which froze funding already given to farmers and made cuts to programs helping farmers sell their crops, and the tariff tax hike come together to create the perfect storm of anxiety and fear for families in the heartland.
Josh Ashe, Owner of Ashe Farms in North Carolina, told reporters he was still concerned about uncertainty in the marketplace, volatile crop price changes, the potential loss of export markets, and having to cut back on planting soybean crops.
Even after announcing the largest tax hike since 1982, Trump suggested tariffs on trade partners could change, creating an even more uncertain future for farmers with the planting season just around the corner.
Iowa farmer Bob Hemesath told reporters, “Well, it makes it cause a lot of uncertainty because we don’t know what to expect from the marketplace. We don’t know if the export markets that we export our grain or ethanol or our pork […] What they’re going to be like after this is all said and done.”
Frustrated Iowa farmer Terry Johnson didn’t mince words when asked to send a message to the Trump administration, saying, “Just stay out of it. I mean, if they would leave it alone and let the free market do its job, everything would be okay.”
Published: Apr 4, 2025