Little Difference Between Biden, Trump.

• Position: TARIFFS

When we think of tariffs, we most often think of large businesses and the impact these import taxes have on them; we know that the costs are passed on to consumers, but at a time when small businesses, the backbone of the U.S. economy, are stressed following COVID and an especially tough year, it is worth considering how tariffs impact the more than 30,200,000 smaller organizations, 99.9% of all U.S. businesses.

"Even the most well-intentioned tariffs may counterintuitively raise costs on those they were designed to protect," says Krieg Tidemann, assistant professor of economics at Niagara (N.Y.) University. "The potential pernicious impact of tariffs is magnified by their impact on U.S. small businesses for two reasons.

"First, as an importer of goods for domestic sale, or for domestic production, small businesses may lack the bargaining power needed to shift the tariff to foreign sellers. While large businesses may be able to buy goods in sufficient scale so foreign suppliers will willingly cover some or all of the tariff to avoid potentially losing the sale, small businesses may not be able to do so since individual firms represent a minor share of a foreign firm's sales.

"Small businesses also may lack the specialized...