If you’ve been following the headlines, you already know tariffs aren’t just some abstract number on an economic report. They’re real costs, hitting real people — and in this case, it’s America’s small businesses that are squarely in the crosshairs.

We’re talking about the companies that make up the backbone of the U.S. economy — the ones responsible for more than half of all job creation in the country. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, there are about 236,000 small-business importers in America, each with fewer than 500 employees. Last year alone, they brought in $868 billion worth of goods.

Now they’re staring down a combined $202 billion annual tariff bill. For a lot of them, this isn’t just a line item they can absorb — it’s the difference between staying afloat and going under.

I see this play out all the time in real estate and development. Big players have the compliance departments, in-house legal teams, and forecasting models to adapt quickly when policy changes. But smaller operators? They’re often running lean. They don’t have an internal trade compliance group or the infrastructure to run “what-if” scenarios.

Erin Williamson of Geodis, a major global logistics firm, nailed it: “They may not have that internal compliance group or the infrastructure to really sit back and say, ‘OK, this is going to be the impact to us. How do we pivot?’”

And here’s where it gets worse — the latest tariffs, ranging from 10% to 50%, also require higher customs bonds. That’s essentially a guarantee small businesses have to purchase to make sure the government gets its tariff revenue, taxes, and any penalties. It’s another cost layered on top of already tight margins.

In real estate, we know the power of small developers, mom-and-pop operators, and local contractors to drive neighborhood growth. But they’re also the most vulnerable when new regulations or fees get dropped on them without warning. Tariffs on imported materials can stall projects, kill deals, and even wipe out an otherwise healthy business.

Policy changes like these aren’t just “business as usual” — they ripple through supply chains, push up costs for consumers, and choke off the smaller players who drive innovation and keep markets competitive. In an economy where resilience comes from diversity of scale and perspective, that’s a dangerous path.

The question now is whether small businesses can adapt quickly enough — or whether we’re about to see a wave of forced consolidations and closures that reshapes the market for years to come.