The Tariff Bill Arrives
Even before Liberation Day, the tariff numbers were terrifying for smaller businesses.
Good Morning!
Here are today’s highlights:
An entrepreneur’s dilemma: “I fantasize about a world where splatter guards sell for $80. It doesn’t exist.”
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is considering suing Donald Trump, and some corporate CEOs are starting to speak out.
The CEO of Shopify says the company will no longer hire employees without proof that the job can’t be done by AI.
Florida is considering legislation that would encourage replacing immigrant workers with child labor.
THE 21 HATS PODCAST
This week, in a conversation recorded on March 27—shortly before Liberation Day—Liz Picarazzi told Shawn Busse and Jaci Russo what it was like to get her most recent tariff bill for a shipment of trash enclosures from China. “I knew what it was going to be, because I had calculated it,” she says, “but to actually see it on paper was terrifying.” And of course it’s only going to get worse now. In our conversation, we discuss a couple of points that bear emphasis: One, Liz tried everything she could think of to find a way to manufacture her products in the U.S. It hasn’t been economically viable in the past, and it’s unlikely to become viable any time soon. And two, Liz wonders—if these tariffs really are intended to bring manufacturing back to the U.S.—why isn’t some of the tariff money being directed toward supporting that transition?
Plus: it’s been widely reported that only a tiny percentage of women business owners surpass a million dollars in annual revenue. As it happens, Jaci and Liz have both done it, but why is it so rare?
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