More than a year after the U.S. imposed punishing tariffs, local businesses have been plagued by layoffs, financial losses and uncertainty in an increasingly hostile economic environment.

The impact has reverberated far downstream to the balance sheets of municipal governments, where shrinking commercial tax bases are forcing property owners to make up the difference.

In a wide-ranging discussion with the National Press Foundation’s Local Business Journalism Fellowship class, entrepreneurs Sarah Wells and Amy Rutherford joined Alexandria, Virginia, City Councilman John Chapman and international logistics expert Kimberly Daniels to outline the daunting challenges testing the staying power of businesses everywhere.

“This last year has been honestly devastating for small business across the board,” said Wells, who designs breast pump bags for nursing mothers.

Wells said the tariff campaign pursued by the Trump administration “chased me down everywhere I have gone” as she sought to move her manufacturing hub from China to Cambodia.

With China dominating the toy manufacturing market, Rutherford, who operates an Alexandria toy shop and two other local enterprises, said there has been no escaping import sanctions.

The impact has been real, Chapman said, dramatically shifting the local tax base from a 65% residential to 35% commercial split to an 81% residential to 19% commercial split.

“Every American is going to feel it no matter what the administration does unless they cancel all of them (tariffs), and try to take an approach that makes sense for everybody rather than the collateral damage of the small business that they seem to be actively trying to destroy,” said Daniels, whose firm helps businesses navigate the increasingly complex import-export landscape.

Access the full transcript here. 

This fellowship is sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a continuation of a journalism training and award program launched in 2025. NPF is solely responsible for the content.