Station Archive

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Davisville, May 26, 2025: Downtown businesses assess the impact of Trump’s tariffs

The large tariffs on U.S. imports ordered by President Trump in April have created huge uncertainty and anxiety, amplified by Trump’s frequent course changes and by tariffs imposed on the U.S. in retaliation. Small businesses can’t wait for uncertainty to clear, however. They have to make frequent decisions in real time. Today on Davisville a few businesses downtown tell us what they think of the tariffs, how they’re coping, and how their customers are responding.

The results are not conclusive -- only five businesses responded to a set of questions I sent to DDBA members prior to this program -- but  they are interesting. One respondent cheers the tariffs. The other four rate the impact to be severe and negative. Even so, you’ll also hear nuance.

Today's guests are Brett Lee, executive director of the Davis Downtown Business Association, and Kevin Wan, president of the association this year and co-owner of Sophia’s Thai Kitchen. They comment on the responses and add insights of their own.

(Photo shows a downtown Davis street scene on May 22, 2025)

Divine Intervention (1st/3rd week) – The Electric Compost Heap (2nd/4th week) for 6:00pm on May 23rd, 2025

This time around on The Electric Compost Heap, Dug Deep will be spinning a variety of musical compostables, including several tunes from the Detroit Cobras, who will be playing in Davis on Friday, June 30, thanks to our friends at the Davis Live Music Collective! The Detroit Cobras have a reputation for putting on banger shows, so you don't want to miss this. Oh, and the official color of tonight's show is... chartreuse! Join us at KDRT.org

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