'We operate on really thin margins': Business owners react to looming tariffs
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - President Donald Trump is detailing new tariffs he says are in the works. They could affect vehicles, pharmaceuticals and computer chips, and be around 25%.
The final terms and conditions of these tariffs have not been finalized, but President Trump did say they could be rolled out as soon as April.
That has some local businesses in the Tri-State worried, while others are confident it won’t have much impact.
At T&T Drugs in Henderson, owner John Marshall is worried tariffs could make hard times even harder.
“That tariff is going to be hard, it really is,” Marshall said.
Marshall says if prices go up on medicine, that will likely hurt pharmacies and could be passed on to the price of prescriptions.
“Typically the insurance companies are the last to lose,” he said. “I’m sure it’ll be passed on somehow to the consumer in some cases.”
Roughly half of Marshall’s inventory is from overseas. He says it’s just not practical for that all that medicine to be made in America.
“We operate on really thin margins,” Marshall said. “You go to just about any independent store in the state of Kentucky, and they’ll tell you, I try to pay my wholesaler first, and my employees second, and there’s not much left.”
President Trump’s new tariff plan also mentions vehicles from other countries.
But Co-owner of D-Patrick Mike O’Daniel says tariffs imposed on foreign cars may not have a large impact on consumers.
“If there’s a 10% tariff, I don’t think they’ll go up 10%,” O’Daniel said. “They might go up 3% or something. I don’t think it’ll be significantly noticeable to the public, and I don’t think it will really effect sales at all.”
O’Daniel says it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly would be taxed, since cars and parts are assembled all over the world, even if it’s all going into the same vehicle.
He showed us a Honda Accord in his showroom, assembled in Ohio, with an engine from Japan, and a transmission made in America.
“It’s kind of hard to put your finger on what’s an American car and what’s not an American car,” O’Daniel said.
He anticipates tariffs would impact prices of parts more than entire cars.
President Trump has said he wants to incentivize companies to move production to the United States with these tariffs. He wants those moves to create more jobs.
Copyright 2025 WFIE. All rights reserved.
