WORCESTER, Mass. - The cost of doing business may not be sipped as smoothly in a few months. Local businesses are reacting to new tariffs from the White House.

“Tequila will be greatly affected. Tequila has really taken off in the U.S. the last few years," Jimmy Vasiliadis said. "It’s a smooth drink. And tequila comes from Mexico.”

For liquor stores, prices on things like tequila, Scotch and foreign wines are all in question.

Vasiliadis said he’s trying to make sense of President Trump’s new tariffs as he takes stock of what’s on the shelves at O’Hara’s.

“Well, I look at tariffs as a new form of tax because it's a tax on our products. It's an increase in the price," Vasiliadis said. "And I'm trying to figure out what the positive effect of this might be. And in this early stage I can't figure it out.”

“We’ll just see where it goes," Alan Lavine said. "But it's so early in the game and again tomorrow can be a completely different game.”

Lavine said Percy’s recently loaded up on appliances and products in preparation for volatile rates and they plan to take any changes in pricing in stride.

“In general, it's really the raw materials are coming from other places," Lavine said. "The parts are made here and then they're put together here. It's been peaks and valleys for the last, really, 30 years. So, we'll see how it goes to be perfectly honest with you.”

“There's a lot of volatility in our country with our economy and that's an issue for all of us," Vasiliadis said. "Stability is what we look for and currently there isn't much stability.”

“The president's approach is asinine,” Tim Murray said.

The region’s chamber of commerce president believes the sweeping tariffs announced this week only create uncertainty.

“I wish there was some assurance that I could give and others. But look, let's do the best we can," Murray said. "Focus on what you can control, and hope that Congress, both the House and the Senate reassert some bipartisan balance so that when we talk about issues of tariffs, they’re done in the way that historically that they've been used in a targeted way; industry specific to try to balance trade, not this kind of unilateral broad-brush approach.”

And local businesses said things are up in the air as they wait to see what impact the new tariffs have.

“I believe anywhere between 2 to 6 months we will see the effects," Vasiliadis said. "What will that do to our industry and how will the consumer respond? Time will tell.”