ICYMI: WSJ: Global Trade War Comes to New Jersey’s ‘Little India’
September 16, 2025, 12:23 pm | in
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 16, 2025
ICYMI: WSJ: Global Trade War Comes to New Jersey’s ‘Little India’
While Mikie stands with the small businesses that drive New Jersey’s economy, Trump is pummeling them, and Jack said they should feel “pain.”
BLOOMFIELD — New reporting from the Wall Street Journal shows just how much Trump’s tariffs — endorsed by Jack Ciattarelli — are costing New Jersey’s small businesses. Trump’s 50% tariffs on India are crushing small businesses in Middlesex County. Businesses worry they “may not survive” and residents are forced to pay more, as prices skyrocket by hundreds of dollars. While Jack continues to cheer on Trump’s unaffordable tariffs and endorse “pain” for New Jerseyans, Mikie visited small businesses in Edison and will continue to fight back against Trump’s tariff regime. She also has a plan to help small businesses cut through red tape to make it easier and cheaper to start and grow a small business in New Jersey.
Oak Tree Road businesses thrived by selling Indian imports and now are straining under Trump’s 50% levies.
…after President Trump’s 50% tariffs on Indian imports took effect, the mood of Indian businesses along the thoroughfare known as Oak Tree Road has turned notably downbeat. Many of the more than 200 businesses say they are wrestling with how to deal with the tariffs, and some wonder whether they’ll be able to last.
“The economy here is plateauing or even going down,” says Mahesh Shah, vice chairman of the local Indian Business Association, which hosted the annual parade. “Smaller businesses may not survive.”
Last month, a day after levies doubled to 50%, Edison Mayor Sam Joshi hosted Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic U.S. representative running for New Jersey governor, for a lunch at the local Moghul Express restaurant. As he directed Sherrill through the noisy throng of local attendees, business owners approached her with tales of woe over tariffs.
Aqib Virani, who helps his father run an Indian jewelry shop and also was the luncheon with Sherrill, says tariffs have been especially painful for jewelers like theirs that sell by weight, on top of record high gold prices. Virani wishes he had frontloaded before the full 50% came online. Now he plans to wait a few months before deciding whether to import from India again.
When the cost of a 40-pound bag of Zebra basmati rice went to $60 from $50, for example, [Patel Brothers grocery store] increased the shelf price to $69.99 from $59.99.
Then there are items that will disappear from shelves altogether as they become too expensive to import…
