The Supreme Court has ruled some of the tariffs put in place over the past year are illegal.
KSBY decided to follow up with some of the organizations, economists, and businesses we spoke with in the past year about this topic.
Garret Olson with the Chamber of Commerce told me some local businesses have been unable to make long term financial plans during the past year.
“We’ve seen a lot of businesses, really hesitant to make some of the bold moves that are that are so important to both our national and hyper local economies," said Olson.
But Olson adds some businesses benefited from the tariffs.
McCarthy’s is a used car dealership in San Luis Obispo.
We spoke with them back in March of 2025, after a 25 percent tariff on foreign-made cars and car parts was announced.
We checked in again with the general manager.
He told me business has been doing well. Because of the high cost of new cars and car parts, people are instead opting to buy used cars.
“What we typically see in a down market, which we are in now, is that people are trying to repair cars that they've already owned," said Wesney. "When they're not able to do that, they're coming to shop for the best value.”
Cal Poly economics professor Daniel Seiver says the ruling comes with added uncertainty. There’s a question about whether billions of dollars in tariffs will have to be refunded.
Big box retailers like Costco were behind the suit filed against the Trump administration over tariffs last year.
“I think the sizable firms will actually end up getting refunds based on what they actually paid. I think smaller businesses will probably, as usual, be left out of that," said Seiver. "They'll be much more be much more difficult for that to recover.”
Whether or not these refunds will be issued is still up in the air.
