Tariff rates keep changing, but smaller companies lack the cash reserves and inventories that insulate their larger competitors.

BY KIT EATON @KITEATON

Donald Trump. Photos: Getty Images

The president’s on-off tariff policy has upended markets worldwide and inserted so much uncertainty into the U.S. economy that even global companies like Toyota are uneasy about the near future of their businesses. But giant firms with deep pockets can ride out economic bumps. Smaller firms may be taking the hardest hits from tariffs—such as small New York City-based electronics firm Adafruit, which showed off its near-crippling $36,000 tariff fee last week. Tariffs on goods imported from nations like China are affecting many companies across different industries.

Chicago’s Chinatown is the only Chinatown in the U.S. that’s currently growing, the Chicago Tribune reported after speaking to Wang Baodong, Midwest consul general of China. But the vendors in the area depend heavily on direct trade with China, the paper said, pointing out that many of the local residents are first- or second-generation Chinese Americans who maintain close ties with Chinese relatives. These........

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