This is an adapted excerpt from the April 19 episode of “Velshi.”

Let’s be clear: Donald Trump’s so-called economic “plan” is not a plan — it’s not even a “concept of a plan.” Trump’s rampant tariffs — which he’s implemented and revised at whiplash speed — are a wrecking ball aimed squarely at working-class Americans and the small businesses that keep this country running. 

The president has even admitted outright that Americans may have to suffer, as he tries to usher the country into some imagined “Golden Age.” But that’s a sacrifice that won’t hit Mar-a-Lago — in fact, the Trump family has been cashing in on his presidency, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis from February, it has raked in $80 million since the election. Nor will that economic pain be felt by his billionaire allies. The mega-rich, like Trump, and even the average rich, can probably weather this turbulent economic storm. 

But it’s the average American who will feel it the most. It’s going to hit your grocery bill. Your local hardware store. Your child’s future. Sweeping tariffs function as a tax, not on foreign countries, as Trump likes to claim, but on you.

At least some, if not most, of the cost of these new taxes will be passed on to consumers, with the lowest-earning households expected to be dealt the biggest blow, according to analysis from the Yale Budget Lab. Say you make $50,000 a year, a tariff-driven price hike on something as basic as coffee will hit you harder than someone earning much more than you, because your daily coffee budget eats up a bigger share of your income. Put another way: Tariffs are a highly regressive tax because they hurt families at the bottom, more than families at the top.

The tariffs are already wreaking havoc on the lives of ordinary Americans, particularly in the small-business sector, which employs nearly half of the American workforce. Tariffs are, as they are designed to do, sending import costs through the roof — pretty bad when you are a wealthy country that imports a lot of stuff. 

With federal relief agencies like the Small Business Administration slashing staff by nearly 43%, there’s no longer a reliable safety net like the one that existed during the pandemic. Even before these cuts, the SBA was already stretched thin and struggled to meet demand for assistance. During an economic crisis, while banks and their major corporate clients get access to liquidity provided by the Fed, smaller businesses could be shut out entirely.

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Meanwhile, large corporations with big balance sheets can absorb increased costs from tariffs or pressure suppliers to shoulder the costs, moves that squeeze out smaller businesses that can’t compete. Grocery giant Albertsons, for example, sent a letter to suppliers flatly stating it wouldn’t accept any cost increases because of tariffs, according to reporting by The American Prospect. Companies such as Albertsons and Walmart can make demands like that because they dominate large portions of the market. 

But independent grocers don’t have that kind of leverage and stand to lose the most from Trump’s tariffs. They don’t have the buying power to negotiate their way out of these added costs. When small businesses fail, monopolies gain ground. 

Larger firms can also throw their weight around to win special treatment from the administration. Case in point: Last week, Apple, one of the biggest corporations in the nation, was able to secure tariff exemptions for its iPhones and MacBooks. 

Big corporations have leverage, and they have options. Small businesses don’t have that kind of access. As Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut put it, Trump’s tariff blitz is just another attempt from the president to consolidate power. It’s not about strategy, it’s about power — and it’s all coming at the expense of average Americans.