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Drowning in tariffs, American businesses try to stay afloat

Shrimp caught off Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, lay in a basket waiting to be weighed.
Gerald Weaver
/
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Shrimp caught off Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, lay in a basket waiting to be weighed.

It's pretty rare for one person to do one thing that affects nearly every business in the United States. But that's the power of the presidency and the new tariffs that took effect this week.

Over the last few days, as the tariffs have gone up and down, NPR has been talking to Americans who run different kinds of businesses.

Even though their companies don't have much in common, all of them are doing the same thing right now: Trying to figure out what's going on and how to respond.

Trump's tariff plans affect nearly every company in America. We'll hear from a few business owners about what it means for them

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