In Washington, Klobuchar, Smith and Minnesota Small Business Owner Beth Benike Highlight Impact of Trump Administration Tariffs

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Tina Smith (D-MN) joined small business owners from Minnesota and across the country to speak out against the rising costs of President Trump's trade war.

Minnesota Small Business Person of the Year, Beth Benike, CEO and founder of Busy Baby based in Zumbrota, MN, spoke at the event about how tariffs are crushing her business. Klobuchar and Smith highlighted Benike's story and emphasized the broader impact these tariffs are having on thousands of small business owners and farmers across Minnesota who can't keep up with rising costs caused by President Trump's tariffs.

"The small business owners that are standing here with us today, they do not have a direct dial number for the White House. They do not have the President's cell phone. They are not like a major, major CEO of a Fortune 500 company that can call and get a meeting with the White House and then get their products exempted," said Klobuchar. "The unfairness and the destruction of the competitive marketplace for small businesses will have longer-term effects than anyone can even imagine."

"For American entrepreneurs, this is not a political issue. This is about the survival of their businesses and the survival of their dreams. Beth Benike's story shows us so clearly that President Trump's chaotic approach to tariffs is putting small businesses like hers at risk. It's hurting people's capacity to make payroll, it's hurting our economy and it's hurting American consumers," said Smith.

"I currently have three months' worth of inventory sitting at my factory that I cannot bring to the US. I have maybe two months' worth left in my warehouse in Minnesota, and when that's gone, I have no more revenue. I cannot pay my employees. I cannot pay my bills. I cannot pay the loans which I have leveraged my house against, so we could lose our house. I do not have the $230,000 that were just immediately dropped in front of me to get my products into the US," said Benike.

Klobuchar's bipartisan bill with Senators Tim Kaine (D-VA) and Mark Warner (D-VA) to undo President Trump's across-the-board tariffs on Canadian goods passed the Senate last month. Recently, Klobuchar and Smith voted for a bipartisan bill to overturn Trump's across-the-board global tariffs. Klobuchar also co-sponsors the Trade Review Act of 2025, bipartisan legislation by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) to restore congressional oversight over President Trump's tariff taxes.

Download Klobuchar's full remarks here.

Download Smith's full remarks here.

Download Benike's full remarks here.

Download photo here.

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