'Existential crisis': Trump has business owners in key swing state feeling 'out of control'

31 May

President Donald Trump in the White House East Room on March 20, 2025 (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok/Flickr)

Once deep red, Georgia has evolved into a volatile swing state that — like Pennsylvania, Michigan or Arizona — can go either Democrat or GOP in statewide races.

Georgia has a conservative two-term Republican governor, Brian Kemp, as well as two Democratic U.S. senators (Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock). And President Donald Trump, after losing the Peach State to Joe Biden in 2020, won it by roughly 2 percent in 2024.

It remains to be seen how Georgia will affect the 2026 midterms, but one issue that Georgia Democrats will likely be campaigning on next year is the effect of Trump's new tariffs.

In an article published on May 31, The Guardian's George Chidi examines the effect that tariffs are having in Georgia — where many businessowners, according to Chidi, are struggling to make decisions.

"If you want a bellwether to measure the broad impact of Donald Trump's tariffs on the economy," Chidi explains, "look south to Georgia. The political swing state has a $900bn economy — somewhere between the GDPs of Taiwan and Switzerland. The hospitality industry is facing an existential crisis. Wine merchants wonder aloud if they will survive the year. But others, like those in industrial manufacturing, will carefully argue that well-positioned businesses will profit."

Chidi adds, "Some say they're insulated from international competition by the nature of their industry. Others, like the movie industry, are simply confused by the proposals that have been raised, and are looking for entirely different answers. So far, it’s a mixed bag…. Unpredictability is driving volatility, and volatility is poisonous to businesses built for stable markets and stable prices. "

Georgia-based wine distributor Carson Demmond, according to Chidi, "put a hold on orders after Donald Trump enacted sky-high tariffs on European goods last month."

Demmond told The Guardian, "It means that as strategic as I’m trying to be with regards to timing my orders so I don’t get hit with lots of tariff bills at the same time, I feel like now, all of that is out of my control. I never want to face a situation where I have too many orders that all sail and land at the same time, and then getting hit with really large tariff bills in one fell swoop."

Read The Guardian's full article at this link.

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