Small businesses in the Chicago area are making some difficult decisions about their future, because of the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration and the retaliation from China.

Tyler McCall, co-owner of stationery store Paper & Pencil in the Andersonville neighborhood, said before President Trump's tariffs, he paid about $200 a month on tariffs and related fees for imported goods he sells in his store. This month, it was $1,400.

"It's frustrating to think about what bills may be coming in the future. Like, what items are we selling right now that we're going to get a tariff bill weeks or months from now that we don't know about?" he said.

The bill for his tariffs came about five weeks after the products were already sold, meaning he took a loss on their sale, and now he's going to have to increase prices to make ends meet.

"For a lot of local independent shops like ours, the margins are already pretty thin, and typically we're going to be more expensive than Amazon or any big box retailer. That's just the nature of a local independent business, and we can't absorb as much of these increases as a Target or an Amazon is able to," he said.

Approximately 73% of America's smartphones, 78% of laptops, and 77% of toys come from China.

The universal tariffs on imports from China now total 145%.