Fed survey reveals Trump’s tariff gut punch to the backbone of the U.S. economy: small business

During Donald Trump’s State of the Union address last month, the president championed the revival of his tariff agenda as a win for Main Street America. The levies, he said, would be paid for by foreign countries, “taking a great financial burden off the people that I love.” Quite the contrary, according to what mom-and-pop businesses are telling the Federal Reserve.

Instead of an income tax replacement, as Trump has repeatedly described them, the data suggests the costs of tariffs have...