How some Bay Area small businesses are bracing for impact of Trump’s tariffs

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Small business owners in the Bay Area are voicing concern over former President Donald Trump’s newly announced tariffs.

Simon Bryant – owner of the neighborhood restaurant Eats in San Francisco’s Richmond District – said rising food costs have already been tough to manage, and the tariffs could make things worse.

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“This is also coming right on the heels of the bird flu and egg crisis. And then for us that obviously raised our prices a bit,” Bryant said. “The reality is everyone’s paying higher prices and this is what’s happening. And so we all have to figure out what to do as a community.”

Trump’s proposal includes sweeping tariffs on imports, with a particular emphasis on goods from China and the European Union.

While aimed at protecting American manufacturers, the move is drawing criticism from small businesses already struggling with inflation and supply chain instability.

Bryant says sourcing locally helps shield his restaurant from some international price shocks. But for other local shops, foreign imports are the backbone of their business.

The Spanish Table – just down the block from Bryant’s restaurant – specializes in wines and food products from Spain and Portugal, many of which are directly affected by the tariffs.

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“We try to always search out the little gems because the peninsula, the Iberian Peninsula, has a lot to offer, and exploring that and sharing it with our customers is really the project here,” said Jared Sears, the store’s wine sales manager.

Sears said he thinks the tariffs would most directly hit American importers, not foreign producers.

“It’s the American importer that pays the tariff. And that is an additional cost that either has to be eaten or passed on to the consumer,” Sears said.

He said he knows some businesses are purchasing a year’s worth of wine in bulk in anticipation of the lasting impacts. But for niche retailers like them, that isn’t an option.

“Big businesses that have a lot of capital can tweak some things to make it work,” Sears said. “But it will be small retailers such as ourselves that suffer.”