好色TV

President Donald Trump’s decision on Wednesday to pause a huge hike in tariffs on dozens of countries for 90 days gave the slumping stock market a bump.

But that surge was short-lived amid investors’ fears that tariffs remained historically high – 25% on imports from Canada and Mexico and 10% for nearly all other nations. Of even greater concern is that Trump has ratcheted up the tariff on Chinese imports to 145%, with China retaliating in kind in a full-blown trade war.

It’s the volatility of the economy that has business owners in Georgia and elsewhere most worried, said Chris Clark, president and 好色TV of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce.

“Businesses need and want consistency,” Clark said. “A lot of the anxiety right now in the Georgia business community comes from that uncertainty.”

“We don’t know what to charge our customers,” said Felipe Arroyave, president and 好色TV of Atlanta-based Spectrum International, a manufacturer of contact lenses. “We’re just in limbo.”

Throughout U.S. history, tariffs have been used to raise revenue for the federal government. In fact, until a federal income tax was established early in the last century, tariffs were the government’s primary source of revenue.

Tom Smith, an economics professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, said tariffs essentially are a tax.

“These tariffs are not paid by other countries,” he said. “They are paid by our businesses and our consumers. … Georgia companies will have to pay the tax, and they will likely have to pass some of that on to consumers.”

While higher prices will be felt broadly throughout Georgia’s economy, the businesses likely to feel the most impact are those that rely heavily on imports or exports.

Joseph Cortes, executive director of the Georgia Craft Brewers Guild, said his industry imports aluminum primarily from Canada to produce beer cans and imports steel that goes into brewing equipment. The tariff on both is 25%.

“If these tariffs continue, we’re going to see a continued slowdown in growth and investment,” he said.

Cortes said it’s not simply a matter of raising prices to cover the cost of the tariffs because beer is not an essential product.

“This is a discretionary spending item,” he said. “The last thing our small breweries will do is raise prices.”

On the export side, poultry is one of Georgia’s top agricultural products, Mexico being the top market. The industry exports about 17% of the broilers produced in Georgia.

China was a key market for Georgia poultry in the past. But that’s no longer the case, a result both of high tariffs and non-tariff related steps China has taken including banning Georgia poultry following outbreaks of bird flu.

“Exports are an important part of the success of Georgia’s poultry industry,” according to a statement from the Gainesville-based Georgia Poultry Federation. “Georgia poultry can compete in any market in the world when the terms of trading are fair.”

While Georgia’s auto manufacturers are high on the list of industries that