By R.J. Morales – TX3DNews
In Texas’s 3rd Congressional District (TX-03)—covering Plano, McKinney, Frisco, Allen, Princeton and nearby cities—small businesses are taking body blows. First it was inflation. Then labor shortages. Now? A 145% tariff spike that’s gutting supply chains and spiking costs like it’s a new Olympic event. Even folks just trying to order a laptop or printer off Temu are feeling the pinch—imagine what it’s doing to the local bike shop or IT firm trying to stay afloat.
Meanwhile, as business owners from Plano to Princeton try to stretch every dollar and dodge every supply chain curveball, Rep. Keith Self spent his latest town hall tossing confetti in the air for Donald Trump. He rattled off national job stats, painted a rosy economic picture, and skipped right past the tariff pain hitting TX-03 like it’s someone else’s problem.
Bunch Bikes: A Real-World Casualty
Let’s zoom in just outside the district line to Denton, where one small business is living proof that tariffs don’t just hurt overseas giants—they hit right at home. Bunch Bikes, a company known for its electric cargo tricycles, is scrappy, innovative, and exactly the kind of local success story politicians love to trot out when the cameras are rolling. The kind of operation that gets called “the backbone of America”—until policy guts it.
Here’s where things get dicey: Bunch sources over 100 parts for their bikes from overseas—mostly China—because that’s where the specialized components actually exist. There are no affordable U.S.-made substitutes. And now, thanks to the new 145% tariffs, each bike costs over $1,100 more to build. CEO Aaron Powell told the Dallas Morning News the company has shifted into “survival mode”—they’ve slashed their advertising budget, frozen hiring, and are just trying to stay afloat.
Sound familiar? That’s because we’re hearing this more and more across TX-03.
The Stories You Won’t See in a Press Release
These stories don’t make campaign flyers, but they’re unfolding in real time across TX-03. One local IT professional (who we’ll keep anonymous because, yes, job security is still something folks worry about) told TX3DNews that their company has lost multiple client contracts this year—not due to lack of demand, but because the cost of upgrading systems has skyrocketed. Thanks to the tariff tug-of-war on imported tech, prices keep jumping, quotes keep changing, and entire upgrade plans have been scrapped. The back-and-forth is creating chaos for small businesses that just want to plan ahead and deliver for their clients.
Then there’s a North Texas manufacturer—name withheld to protect the source—that, according to someone familiar with internal discussions, recently got slapped with a steep five-figure tariff bill on just two containers of materials from Canada and Mexico. That’s not economic patriotism—that’s a paperwork-induced punch to the gut.
A District on the Edge
Small businesses aren’t the only ones feeling the squeeze. UPS recently announced major nationwide layoffs—20,000 jobs—and while they haven’t released exact numbers for North Texas, TX-03 is home to several logistics hubs, warehouses, and last-mile operations that could be affected. With so many families relying on stable work in shipping, tech, and light manufacturing, this isn’t just a blip—it’s a real worry.
Nobody expects one town hall to solve a trade war, but folks across TX-03 deserve straight answers about how shifting tariffs and global supply chain pressures are hitting close to home. We heard plenty about national job numbers and tax cuts—but not a word about the small businesses or workers in our own backyard trying to stay afloat in uncertain times.
This isn’t about party lines. It’s about real-world consequences. Small businesses in TX-03 are caught in the middle of global policy decisions they had no hand in making—and the impact is anything but abstract. What they need now isn’t another round of talking points or a tweet declaring ‘everything’s great.’ They need practical relief, predictability, and leaders who ask questions before echoing slogans.
So here’s our ask: let’s put the soundbites aside and focus on what’s actually happening here. What can be done—right now—to support the employers, workers, and families trying to keep this district running?
We’re listening. tips@tx3dnews.com.
Disclosure: Some details in this article are based on firsthand accounts from local sources who requested anonymity to protect their employment. TX3DNews has verified the credibility of these accounts while honoring requests for discretion.