Small businesses in western Wisconsin are facing higher tariff costs and weakening customer spending, putting trade policy and affordability at the centre of a competitive congressional contest, The Guardian Economics reports. Business owners described absorbing additional costs on goods including T-shirts and Canadian cabinets while customers cut discretionary purchases or delay building homes.
Erin Klaus plans to close Tangled Up in Hue, her handmade artisan market in downtown Eau Claire, at the end of the year after 18 years in business. She told the outlet that sales had declined for two years and that she had used income from her separate job running Downtown Eau Claire Inc, a business non-profit, to cover staff pay. Tariffs on T-shirts added costs she absorbed, while household financial pressures and a shift towards online shopping weakened trading.
In nearby Chippewa Falls, Amy Burke Lepper said cabinets supplied by a Canadian manufacturer she had worked with for more than two decades now carried additional tariffs. The owner of One Of A Kind Interior Design said a couple of clients had postponed homebuilding because of current costs, while business at her retail shop, Lagom, had slowed sharply. She also reported giving up health insurance after the monthly cost for herself and her husband rose from more than $1,000 to nearly $3,000.
Those pressures form part of the backdrop to the contest between Republican incumbent Derrick Van Orden and Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin’s third district. Van Orden has defended Donald Trump’s record and maintained his support for the president. Cooke, making her third attempt to win the seat, has focused on financial strains facing workers, farmers and business owners. Her proposals include extending expired Affordable Care Act tax credits for three years and stronger antitrust enforcement. The Guardian noted that Van Orden was among a small number of Republicans who voted to extend the healthcare subsidies.
For Klaus, the election will not change the decision to shut the storefront. It will remain open through the holiday season to reduce stock and support the artists selling there. She intends to retain other operations, including a Saturday art market, wholesale activity and apparel printing, but sees recovery from the wider economic pressures as a lengthy process.