‘We’re the First to Go’: Black Businesses Brace for Trump’s Tariffs

Sign Up for Everything’s Political Get our free politics and culture newsletter delivered to your inbox every other Thursday. Vera Warren-Williams started the Community Book Center in New Orleans with $300 and a dream in 1983. In the 42 years since, the Black book and clothing store went from the trunk of her car to a flagship shop and anchor of Bayou Road, a restaurant and shopping district with the city’s highest concentration of Black businesses.  She has battled through several economic downturns, including the 2008 recession, and the mass destruction of Hurricane Katrina. Now, she has to face the impact of one of the Trump administration’s most drastic economic policy changes in decades: imposing tariffs on virtually every country that the U.S. trades with. @media ( min-width: 300px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 100px;}}@media ( min-width: 320px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 100px;}}@media ( min-width: 728px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 90px;}}@media ( min-width: 970px ){.newspack_global_ad.scaip-1{min-height: 100px;}} The uncertainty after last week’s announcement and then Trump’s 90-day suspension of “reciprocal” tariffs on April 9 has thrown Black households and small businesses into a tailspin.  Prices are expected to dramatically rise for clothing and shoes; electronics like cellphones and computers; cars and auto repair; and groceries like coffee, fruits, vegetables, alcohol, and...