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ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Tariffs of 30% go into effect August 1 against products from the 27 countries in the European Union and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce expects that to hit small businesses hard. He describes how the domino effect of tariffs eventually impacts consumers.

“And then if they sell it to maybe a wholesaler, part of that gets passed along,” said Neil Bradley, Vice President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. “And then it gets passed along to the retailer, and then ultimately to us as consumers.”

Using Consumer Reports price tracker, News10NBC has been following the prices of household essentials like coffee, laundry detergent and diapers. All three are the same price today as they were last month. So is all this doomsday talk overblown? The head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce says no.

“It does vary from product to product. It depends on what the tariff level is. Whether we’ve been able to stock up on the tariffs ahead of time. But eventually, all of these things get translated through into higher prices,” said Bradley.

Take for example, coffee. There has been no price change.

“Why? Because in the first three months of this year, importers brought in record amounts of coffee to try to get ahead of these tariffs. But you can do that because you can store the beans for a while,” Bradley explained.

But you can’t store bananas. And part of the cost is paid by the consumer, with price hikes of more than 3% in a month.

He also points out that consumers pay the price on raw materials.

“So manufacturers right there in Rochester, they’re building something. They’re in New York to sell to Americans but they may need a particular part or component that they import. When they import that, they’re paying the tariffs too,” he said.

Business owners have confirmed that, like at one of four JAM Industries plants in Rochester. There, workers turn blocks of steel and aluminum into parts for various sectors from medical to the military.

“Probably 80% of our aluminum is imported,” said Jeff Johnson, General Manager of Jam Industries.

And the tariff on aluminum is currently 50%.

Consider the impact on chocolate makers like Hedonist Chocolate. Cocoa beans can’t be grown in most of the U.S. And so, Hedonist, like most chocolate makers have to import all of their chocolate.

The Chamber says the domino falling for chocolate makers feels a bit more like a boulder, a boulder that threatens to crush America’s small businesses.

The Rochester Chamber of Commerce is asking its members to report the impact of tariffs and Governor Hochul has mandated that all state agencies track the impact as well.

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