01/22/2026
On tariffs imposed on imported aluminum and steel
Mr. President,
Ever since the new tariffs on steel and aluminum went into effect mid last year or so, we've had to pass these costs along to the consumer, making our hurricane products: Accordion shutters, roll ups and panels nearly twice as expensive.
The result has been catastrophic for our small business. Consumers simply stopped buying or nearly stopped. We've had to cut back our expenses way back as our sales dropped to nearly 25% of what they used to be pre tariffs.
The idea behind tariffs is to help the solvency of the country as well as encourage domestic production. If you google or use AI to find competitive domestic producers, they do not exist that I could find.
Even so, if such were to be found, no regulation exists to curtail their now inflationary prices as their reasoning seems to be "Why should we keep our domestic prices as is, when we can charge nearly as much as the imported and make a huge profit?"
This defeats the purpose of the tariffs of encouraging domestic production.
the small business sector has been greatly affected and many of us are being forced to close our doors. We simply can't make a profit with this new economy.
If tariffs interfere with national security should they still be imposed as they are? Take a look at this posting from congress.gov
"Section 232 authorizes the President to impose trade restrictions if the Secretary of Commerce determines that imports of a good "threaten to impair the U.S. national security." Since June 2025, the United States has imposed 50% tariffs on steel, aluminum, and products containing steel and aluminum ("derivatives") from ...Sep 26, 2025
Expanded Section 232 Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum - Congress.gov
ttps://www.congress.gov › crs-product"
making Hurricane shutters, impact glass and related products unaffordable are, in effect, creating a threat to the security of Americans. They rather eat and pay their mortgage and put their lives and property in danger.
Those that have deep pockets can survive. The small fish will not.
I hear in the news that the national debt is going down and the country is advancing once again to solvency. In that light, just forget about the $2,000 government stimulus check that we're supposed to receive. I'm sure we small businesses would rather earn it by having these tariffs reduced to a fair level and contribute to the government with increased production, added jobs and taxes that would benefit us all, not just those that are and will take advantage of these tariffs through greed by unscrupulous domestic producers.
Carlos Manrique, Small business owner
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