Georgia Chamber will release third report on how tariffs affect Georgia businesses

The Georgia Chamber of Commerce said today it's issuing a third report on how Georgia businesses could be affected by the Trump administration's new tariffs.

The group's president, Chris Clark, says the chamber is taking an aggressive approach to advise business leaders on tariffs because he expects impacts in every sector of the state's economy — but especially small businesses.

He says, large corporations have been stockpiling goods for months — a tariff-fighting strategy that small business can't afford.

"I think when you've got a small mom-and-pop organization on Main Street in downtown rural Georgia, and 100% of their product is an import product that they're repackaging or selling, this is going to hurt them first," Clark said. "This is where the pain is gonna be. And for those men and women that may be older Georgians who aren't online, who don't have the different options out there, that that's who they go to every day. This is going to hurt their pocketbook."

"So I haven't heard anyone tell me that they're going out of business," he added. "I have heard from manufacturers that say if certain tariffs go into effect at a certain point, they'll look at insolvency in a short period of time. And these are American jobs, but if they are dependent on one supplier, they don't have a lot of options out there."

The report focuses on how Georgia businesses, large and small, can maneuver through the rapidly changing tariff structures.

The chamber is working on a fourth report, due out next week, focusing on Georgia's large service sector.