A small Atlanta chocolate factory is feeling the impacts of tariffs

Georgia small businesses are feeling the impacts of tariffs on products they need to import. Tuesday, Senator Raphael Warnock visited a chocolate factory in Atlanta to learn how they are coping. 

Xocolatl is Atlanta’s only chocolate factory. The company imports cacao beans from central America and Africa since it is difficult to grow in the U.S., and imports sugar from Brazil.

Xocolatl founder Matt Weyandt says increasing costs on raw materials and uncertainty around tariffs are presenting a unique financial challenge.

“We have had to raise prices on our wholesale prices. We did that over the summer. And even that was hard to do because we don't really even know what our cost of goods is going to be in six months. So to try to set a price for somebody is pretty hard," he said.

Weyandt says imports from Brazil are facing a 50% tariff, while cacao beans come with a 10% to 18% tariff depending on where they’re grown. Xocolotl stockpiled sugar in July ahead of the tariff kicking in to try to delay increasing costs. 

Warnock emphasized his opposition to tariffs implemented by the President Donald Trump administration. 

"That tax is not something that Brazil is eating. It's passed on to these small businesses. So this tariff agenda is a job killer," Warnock said. 

Proponents of tariffs say they encourage American manufacturing. Meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance is set to visit Georgia Thursday to promote the Trump administration's economic policies.