MrBeast, the popular YouTuber known for his philanthropic efforts, spoke out on Tuesday against Trump’s tariffs.
The YouTube personality, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, criticized the president for disrupting the work of small businesses.
Donaldson currently heads several businesses in addition to running multiple YouTube channels — one of those businesses, Feastables, sells chocolate bars and other chocolate snacks.
According to Donaldson, Trump’s tariffs have not decreased the cost of producing chocolate bars in the United States.
“Ironically because of all the new tariffs it is now way cheaper to make our chocolate bars we sell globally NOT in America because other countries don’t have a 20%+ tariff on our cogs,” Donaldson wrote on X.
In 2024, Feastables made $250 million in sales and turned a profit of over $20 million, per Bloomberg. The chocolate bars are produced in the U.S. and Peru.
In a follow-up post, Donaldson wrote, “(By the way) we pay our farmers a living income, use fair trade certified beans, etc. so I was already spending a lot on cocoa. A random price hike was pretty brutal (not going to lie).
“We’ll figure it out. I feel for small businesses though. Could really be a nail in the coffin for them.”
Small business are considered by experts to be vulnerable to Trump’s tariff policies.
“If the president doesn’t pause the effect of the tariffs soon, many small businesses will go bankrupt,”billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman wrote Wednesday on X. “Medium-sized businesses will be next.”
Midday Wednesday, Trump did pause most new reciprocal tariffs for 90 days, as the Deseret News reported. The baseline 10% levy will remain in place.
“I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE, and a substantially lowered Reciprocal Tariff during this period, of 10%, also effective immediately,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Donaldson is one of the first major figures in the entertainment industry to comment on the president’s tariffs. Most of the entertainment industry has not felt the impact of tariffs yet, but Hollywood may eventually be hit hard.
China, the world’s second-largest box office, could ban Hollywood films because of high tariffs, according to comments from influential Chinese bloggers, per Bloomberg.
Trump increased tariffs on China to 125%, he announced via Truth Social on Wednesday.