The smell of raw chocolate immediately hits your nose upon entering through the front door of Xocoatl Chocolate in Atlanta’s Mechanicsville neighborhood. The small business, which employs 19 people, including the owners Matt Weyandt and Elaine Read, calls the once historic all-Black neighborhood home to its factory and tasting room. Set among a cluster of low slung brick buildings, this was once home to small mechanic shops.

Small business is the foundation of Mechanicsville, and Xocoatl Chocolate is one of those small businesses that has been birthed out of a newer Mecanicsville. Small business is also the foundation of commerce in Georgia, which has over one million registered small businesses, according to date from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Tariffs on countries that prod

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