WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration’s reckless tariff announcement last week has sent shockwaves through the economy—triggering a 12.32% market drop and sowing deep uncertainty across Main Street. Far from feeling “liberated,” small business owners are feeling the immediate pain of the Trump Slump: soaring costs, delayed contracts, and stalled investments.
Main Street Alliance (MSA) is calling on Congress to act decisively and restore stability by passing the Trade Review Act of 2025, a bipartisan effort led by Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA). This legislation would reassert congressional authority over tariff policy—an essential check on the executive branch’s erratic and economically dangerous behavior.
The current chaos is the result of a tariff policy designed on the fly and announced without consultation or planning. Small businesses cannot operate in a climate of unpredictability. If this Administration continues down this path, a recession is no longer a risk—it’s a trajectory.
Momentum behind the Cantwell-Grassley bill is growing. Already, seven Republican Senators have signed on as co-sponsors. On Face the Nation Sunday, Senator Cantwell cited Main Street Alliance’s support and emphasized the urgency of reining in unilateral tariff decisions. [WATCH]
Across the country, MSA members are reporting skyrocketing input costs and canceled orders. Matt Raboin, co-owner of Brix Cider in Mt. Horeb, Wisconsin, shares the real-world consequences these tariffs are having on his family-run business. [WATCH HERE]
And he’s not alone. Main Street voices from every corner of the country are sounding the alarm—and demanding a course correction from Washington
MSA is also hearing from other members across the US on the consequences of this tariff announcement:
“Since we cannot reduce our overhead by that amount—and we don’t think customers will spend 15% more in our store overall but will just buy fewer things—we will have to raise consumer prices,” said a Bookstore owner in Northfield, MN.
“We import houseplants from Canada, just across the border from where we are. We pay between $3-10 for 4-inch plants, and if that increases by 20%, we will see our costs increase and our margins decrease. We can’t charge more for plants at this point,” shared a plant store owner in Tacoma, WA.
“Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs are a direct hit to working families and small businesses—jacking up prices on everyday goods and costing households $3,000–$4,000 a year. It’s a tax hike on the middle class, just as inflation cools. Worse, it’s a sleight of hand—meant to distract Americans from the massive tax breaks Trump is promising billionaires and big corporations. Tariffs aren’t a strategy—they’re sabotage. Congress must pass the Trade Review Act of 2025 and stop this economic shell game before Main Street pays the price”, said Richard Trent, Executive Director of Main Street Alliance.
