Trade Adjustment Assistance was supposed to help people whose jobs were threatened by overseas competition, but Congress eroded its support starting in the 1980s.
Keen Footwear has limited its exposure to supply chain trouble and opened a plant in Kentucky. But the trade upheaval has strained its adaptive strategy.
A sourdough baker turned entrepreneur in North Carolina has delayed his new product as he contemplates the prospect that higher costs will doom his company.
For companies that have shifted factory production from China to other countries, the latest tariffs have undermined their strategy while sowing paralysis.