Chinese Small Businesses and Haney sound alarm on Trump Tariffs devastating Chinatown

SAN FRANCISCO - Today, Assemblymember Matt Haney (D - San Francisco) joined Chinatown business owners to deliver a message to President Trump that high tariffs against China and other Asian countries will kill San Francisco’s beloved Chinatown as we know it. The unprecedented 145% tariff on Chinese imported goods coming into the United States have since caused prices to skyrocket and are threatening San Francisco Chinatown’s small immigrant-owned businesses out of existence.

Family-run businesses in San Francisco’s Chinatown are facing price hikes of 15–30% on imported goods like dry noodles, sauces, teas, and traditional medicines – causing wholesale produce vendors to report a 20% drop in sales since the tariffs hit. Since Chinatown’s economy runs on imports from China and Asia—up to 90% of store inventories in some shops come from abroad. Trump’s 145% tariff on Chinese imports is effectively a death sentence for neighborhood businesses.

“San Francisco is proud of our historic Chinatown. It’s the Chinese immigrant families and businesses in our community that are paying the price for these tariffs,” said Assemblymember Matt Haney, who represents San Francisco’s Chinatown in the California Legislature. “Causing economic chaos doesn’t make America great, it just hurts American families and businesses. We’re calling on the Trump administration to admit defeat, halt this trade war, and provide the relief our community needs.”

Chinese community leaders rallied against the tariff hike, citing its devastating impacts on not only individual small businesses but on Chinese culture and heritage.

“For Chinese Americans in Chinatown across the country and beyond, consuming imported goods from their home country is not a matter of choice; it’s part of our identity, cultural heritage, and a necessity,” said Donald Luu, President of the SF Chinese Chamber of Commerce. “These stores are a lifeline to our community, reminding customers of a taste of home and giving options beyond what one might find in normal supermarkets."

Small business owners in Chinatown – many of them immigrant entrepreneurs who came to the United States for economic and cultural freedom – are already feeling the weight of higher import fees.

“The impact of tariffs has been deeply felt in communities like Chinatown, where many small, immigrant-owned businesses depend on cross-border trade,” said Lucas Li, owner of Lion Trading, a small business in the heart of San Francisco’s Chinatown. “Rising costs from import taxes are placing real pressure on these local economies, threatening not only livelihoods but the cultural fabric that defines them.”

“We will choose locally produced alternatives if it makes sense, but many of the items we sell are not produced locally and never will be,” said Hon Keung So, owner of New Asia Market in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

San Francisco’s Chinatown stands alongside several U.S. Chinatowns in economic uncertainty amidst Trump’s tariff hike. Los Angeles County ports expect a 40 percent drop in traffic, and New York City’s Chinatown businesses have already had to raise prices at least 10% to keep up with rising import costs.