By Josh Israel for the Florida Independent.
Broadcast version by Trimmel Gomes for Florida News Connection reporting for the Florida Independent-Public News Service Collaboration
During his 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump promised that if voters returned him to the White House, he would quickly end inflation and cut energy prices in half. He has not kept those promises: Florida businesses and consumers are paying higher prices now than they did under President Joe Biden.
Trump announced shortly after his 2025 inauguration that he would impose new tariffs on foreign goods and services, including a 10% tariff on goods imported from nearly every country and higher tariffs on goods from selected countries. He did this without the consent of Congress, claiming emergency powers. The Supreme Court ruled in February 2026 that the president does not have those powers under the law and that Trump’s tariffs were thus illegal. Trump responded with new tariffs, citing different legal authority, which are now the subject of another legal challenge.
The cost of Trump’s tariffs has been borne by Americans: The nonpartisan Tax Foundation found in an analysis published in March that the average American household paid $1,000 in higher costs in 2025 and would pay another $600 in 2026. An analysis published by the minority staff for Congress’ Joint Economic Committee in January calculated that in 2025, inflation cost the average Florida household $1,342.
Annette Kidd of Miramar and her family own and operate a local franchise of Juici Patties, a Jamaican fast food chain. She says they have been hit hard by the tariffs.
“It’s had a real negative impact all around and a domino effect: Not only are we paying more for goods, anywhere from 8% to 49% more, it’s really eroded our business and profit margin, because our business is really a modest business, in a sense that our profit margins are small,” Kidd told the Florida Independent. ”Because of the tariffs, it’s costing us more for our suppliers to do business with them, they’ve had to increase their prices. So from a service perspective, we’re paying more for services rendered from our various vendors and for products and services that they offer. For the products that we use, from food to paper goods and supplies, those have all gone up. Our customers are spending less.”
Kidd said that the franchise recently saw its worst business dip ever and had to reduce the size of its staff: “None of us are benefiting from it, not customers, not consumers, not businesses, not vendors, none of us see the benefit of it.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released data on April 10 showing that over the previous 12 months, the prices of all consumer goods and services had increased 3.3%.
In Fort Lauderdale, Valerie Bressler owns a small business called VB Hose Clamps, distributing hose clamps to companies in the marine, automotive, and manufacturing sectors. Bressler said her top-quality product is the Jubilee Clip, imported from the United Kingdom.
“Every time I bring something in, whether it’s a big sea freight shipment, or just air-freight something over from the U.K., it’s almost become a roulette wheel, like, what’s the tariff going to be today? Because there have been so many changes over the past year,” Bressler told the Florida Independent. “It’s an added cost that is a big burden, which I have had to pass along to customers, as well as reducing my margins or reducing my profit.”
Bressler said that unlike tariffs on steel, aimed at helping American steel manufacturers, a tariff on the British-engineered Jubilee Clips only hurts American small businesses: “The whole thing just strikes me as a ‘Let them eat cake’ kind of thing from people who are either so out of touch with the real workings of business and infrastructure and/or just don’t care, because I think the only people benefiting from this whole thing are the the top people on Wall Street.”
Kidd and Bressler participated in an April 13 panel discussion on the impact of tariffs on small businesses with Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Other participants, including Joyce Arrieta of the Miami gift basket company Joyce’s Baskets, Pembroke Pines restaurant owner Paula Marsola, and Association of Floral Importers of America executive vice president Christine Boldt, all said tariffs have imperiled their businesses and industries.
“Tariffs are a tax on Florida businesses and consumers that drive up our prices,” Wasserman Schultz said in an emailed statement. “It’s cruel that Trump and Republicans ran on affordability, but every action they take increases costs, from this strategic disaster in Iran and their assault on law-abiding immigrant workers, to their healthcare and housing cuts. Nobody understands that more than small business owners.”
Since Trump ordered the bombing of Iran in February, gasoline prices have soared. According to AAA, the average price of a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline is $4.146, up nearly a dollar since Trump’s second inauguration.
Kidd said higher fuel prices are also hurting the family business: “We have several suppliers that supply us with various things, from mats to soaps, cleaning supplies, uniforms and so forth, and they’re feeling the pinch at the pump, so they’re going to pass those costs on to us, and then from a consumer perspective, they’re spending less because they’re spending more on gas.”
In an emailed statement, White House spokesperson Kush Desai said: “President Trump has always been clear about temporary disruptions as a result of Operation Epic Fury, but America remains on a solid economic trajectory. Robust private-sector employment growth in the March jobs report shattered expectations and the March CPI inflation report showed that prices of eggs, beef, prescription drugs, dairy, and other household essentials are stable or even falling thanks to the President’s policies. The President will continue to build on and tout these achievements for the American people in the months ahead.”
Josh Israel wrote this article for the Florida Independent.
Source: Public News Service
