One year into new tariffs, small businesses are still feeling the pinch

For most of 2025, Americans faced an overall average effective tariff rate of 14.3%, the highest since 1939. And while all consumers have been feeling that pain in one way or another, many small business owners have dealt with the impact of higher prices directly. Among U.S. importers, 97% are classified as small businesses. “Marketplace” checked in with a handful to hear how the year gone by has been for them.

Allie Trela-Jones, Bruised Boutique

Allie Trela-Jones owns Bruised Boutique, a skate shop in Nashua, New Hampshire, where she says they’ve absorbed a lot of the tariff costs, but prices have still had to come up.

“Something as simple as a roller skate helmet or a skateboard helmet used to be, when we opened our store, was $35. Now they're almost $100,” said Trela-Jones. “And I know that after 17 years that we've been in business, that's going to happen. But most of that, I'd say like $60 and above, was in the last year.”

Kristin Thalheimer-Bingham, Dean’s Sweets

Kristin Thalheimer-Bingham co-owns Dean’s Sweets in Portland, Maine. While the administration removed tariffs on cocoa and certain non-domestic commodities back in November, most businesses have input costs from all kinds of things that are still feeling the tariffs.

“More than ever, we're watching our spending very carefully,” said Thalheimer-Bingham. “Our rent, our payroll, our ingredients all cost more, and our sales, truthfully, have pretty much flattened out over the last year.“

Todd Adams, Sanitube U.S.

Todd Adams is president of Sanitube, a stainless steel tubing supplier for food manufacturers based in Lakeland, Florida. He’s joined “Marketplace” over the last year as he's navigated tariffs on steel and Chinese imports.

“Yes, it would have been a better year had there not been the tariff uncertainty because we'd have more capital that we could use for other things,” said Adams. “We wanted to open additional warehouse locations, hire additional workers… We had to dial back on those.“

To hear all three dispatches, click the play button at the top of the page.