While highlighting local businesses in Northwest D.C. on Monday, District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser discussed the potential effects the Trump administration’s newly implemented tariffs on foreign imports could have on the nation’s capital.
“We don’t know the impacts but we are monitoring it closely,” said Bowser, considering District residents and entrepreneurs as she toured businesses at The Parks at Walter Reed. “We regard small businesses and their growth as important to our growth agenda.”
Bowser’s tour of the Northwest businesses came after announcing a $500,000 investment through the Walter Reed Retail Opportunity Grant to “support businesses activating retail areas on The Parks at Walter Reed campus.”
The tour started at the DC Pop-Up, a collective of women and minority-owned businesses part of the D.C. Department of Small and Local Business Development’s Made in DC Program.
Open businesses at The Parks at Walter Reed include: The Charmery, Chase Bank, DC Pop-Up, District Dogs, Livewell Animal Hospital at the Parks, JINYA, Juneberry Garage, Nail Saloon, Starbucks, and Whole Foods. In addition, other businesses are coming to the Walter Reed campus, including: Blue’s Coffee Shop, McCuiston Group Pediatrics and Lactation, Pere Wine Bar, Slice and Pie, Tropical Smoothie Café, and True Value Hardware.
Rahama Wright, curator of DC Pop-Up and CEO of Shea Yeleen, was ecstatic about the opportunity to showcase local small businesses.
“We are incredibly grateful to Mayor Bowser and the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development for awarding this grant,” Wright told The Informer. “They reached out to us and asked if we wanted to do the pop up here and we of course said we would love to!”
While she is appreciative of the opportunities provided through the grant funding and curating DC Pop Up, Wright, like many Washintonians, is worried about the Trump administration’s tariffs affecting residents and businesses.
“I think everyone’s going to be impacted,” Wright said. “In this time of uncertainty, all businesses are going to be impacted but for small businesses, it’s going to be much more difficult to overcome. Simply because they don’t have the resources to address external challenges related to the tariff situation.”
Working to Protect District Residents, Bracing for Economic Crisis
As Bowser met and listened to entrepreneurs and District workers, she also reacted to the cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, to downsize the federal government and cut spending it deems as “waste, fraud and abuse.”
“What we already know from these DOGE cuts to the federal government is that we may have up to 40,000 people who don’t have their jobs,” she said.
The mayor emphasized the importance of keeping federal workers that have been laid off in the District.
“We want to retain those residents, we want them to stay here and get new jobs here,” she said. “We want them to continue to send their kids to our schools and shop at our businesses.”
As President Donald Trump’s April 2 “Liberation Day” tariffs begin – after declaring a 10% baseline tax on imports from all countries, and higher rates for dozens of nations that run trade surpluses with the U.S. – Bowser explained how the District could be affected by the uncertainty.
“When our residents are impacted, the city is impacted,” Bowser explained. “If people lose jobs, if there is not as much investment income, all of those things impact revenue to the city, it’s a cascading effect on other investments as well.”
With various economic concerns looming, the mayor warned that more trials could arise.
“I think most people are expecting that the national economy will go into recession and the District’s economy may go into recession soon,” Bowser said.
The mayor said the District is used to bracing for financial challenges, in order to help residents as much as possible; however, she said, this current economic trial is unprecedented.
“We always prepare for recession planning and what [that] means is, how do we rightsize our spending to adjust to changes in revenues?” she explained. “Usually recessions are part of an economic cycle but this one is a shock caused by this policy change.”
