RENO, NV – Last week, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) visited Orucase, a local outdoor recreation small business in Reno, to discuss how President Trump’s across-the-board tariffs are harming Nevada’s economy. In Nevada, 99 percent of all businesses are small businesses, and President Trump’s tariffs are threatening their ability to stay afloat.
Reno Gazette Journal: Sen. Rosen slams Trump’s ‘reckless, chaotic’ tariffs after Reno small business seeks help
By Mark Robison
Key Points:
- Isaac Howe was stunned when President Donald Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs against almost every nation on earth. It would force his small business’s prices up by 37%, an amount he said his customers won’t pay.
- Howe sent a letter to Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada, to tell her how his business would be harmed.
- She visited his Longley Lane business on April 18 to learn what he does and to hold a news conference behind a sign saying, “Repeal Trump’s tariffs — bad for business, bad for Nevada.”
- His letter was just one of thousands by constituents contacting her office, she said. “They’re worried sick about how recklessly the sweeping new tariffs are being implemented, and how the tariffs will impact their business, their livelihood, their family, their community,” Rosen said.
- He said the capacity to make what he sells at scale does not exist in the U.S. — “We’re stuck in limbo.”
- “Trump isn’t thinking about what he’s doing — he’s reckless, it’s chaotic, it’s uncertain, and he is passing it on to everyone, no matter where you live, not just in Nevada, everywhere in this entire country,” she said.
- Rosen said she’s fighting the tariffs because of their real-world consequences. “I will take the side of a real family, a kid, a business — all of that here in Nevada every day — over Elon Musk and every billionaire in Trump’s cabinet who wants to close our schools, take away your Social Security, Medicare, close a veteran suicide hotline,” she said.
KTVN Reno: Senator Rosen visits small business to talk tariff impacts
Anchor: “[…] Orucase, a local company that designs travel bags for bicycles, tells us the tariffs will hurt their bottom line […] Senator Jacky Rosen stopped by the business earlier today to learn more. The business believes these tariffs hurt smaller businesses more than the big corporations.
[…]
Reporter: Today, Nevada Senator Jacky Rosen visited a small business that’s impacted by President Trump’s recent tariffs. Isaac Howe, founder of Orucase, designs and manufactures travel cases and gear for cyclists and athletes who travel with specialized sports equipment.
[…]
Isaac Howe: “When I first wrote Senator Rosen, the Trump Administration had just proposed a 46 percent tariff on imports from Vietnam. That tariff would’ve nearly doubled our landed costs overnight and sent our retail prices up by 30 percent.”
Anchor: “And it’s the uncertainty that makes this thing that much harder.”
Isaac Howe: “Right now we have cargo on the water, and we have no way of knowing if—by the time it lands—this administration will have reversed that course and imposed a policy that we simply don’t have the cash to absorb. That’s no way to run a business.”
Anchor: “And other businesses like Orucase have reached out to the Senator asking for help.”
Senator Rosen: “Countless Nevadans – I’ve been getting thousands and thousands of emails every week to my office – they’ve contacted me because they’re worried sick about how recklessly the sweeping new tariffs are being implemented and how the tariffs will impact their business.”
[…]
KOLO Reno: Local business owner spells out what tariffs mean to him
Anchor: “Nevada U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen met with a small business owner today to talk about proposed tariffs. Isaac Howe is the founder of Orucase, it’s a company that makes traveling cases for cyclists so they can avoid some airline fees. He emailed Rosen’s office to tell her about what the tariffs mean for his business. He gets some of his materials from Vietnam, which is currently facing a 46-percent tariff. Now that tax, along with the uncertainty of the current economic climate, is not good for his business.”
Isaac Howe: “If I ship a container and it’s normally $40,000 in duties I have to pay, and you’re telling me it’s going to be $250,000—it’s a big deal for a small business that only does a couple million dollars a year.”
Anchor: “Senator Rosen says she receives 15,000 contacts a week from constituents worried about tariffs and other [business] and pocketbook issues. She says that tariffs have a cascade effect, negatively impacting businesses directly—but then she says it quickly spreads to the community as a whole with devastating results.”
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