Restaurateur blasts Trump: Your game of 'chicken' is 'Russian roulette' for us
A business owner in Denver is calling on President Donald Trump to reconsider his administration's use of tariffs.
Masaru Torito, who has owned the casual Japanese restaurant Kokoro for 39 years, made the comments on CNN's "The Lead With Jake Tapper." They happened just a few hours after Trump announced new 25% tariffs on countries like South Korea and Japan.
"The tariffs are just the latest challenge that we as restaurant owners are dealing with," Torito told Tapper. "Margins in restaurants are very, very thin. Sometimes 2%, 3% or 4%, so any increase in cost is really hard for us to bear."
Tapper then asked Torito how Trump's decision on Monday to levy tariffs on several countries impacts a business like Kokoro.
"The approach of the administration is as if this is a game of chicken or rock, paper, scissors," Torito said. "But the impact that it has on us as small businesses is like Russian roulette."
"We're just waiting on the last pull of the trigger and for all of us to shut our doors," Torito continued. "It's a hard time right now."
Trump's new tariffs on South Korea and Japan coincided with 13 additional threats of new tariffs issued to other countries. Some of the countries Trump threatened with new tariffs include Malaysia, Bosnia, and Thailand.
"We do everything we can to keep things low, but eventually some part of that has to be passed on to our customers," Torito said.