Tariffs on Chinese imports have endangered small business around the United States — a growing nightmare that critics say the president could have avoided. Sam Cobb was surprised to see so many people lined up for a hearing at the International Trade Commission in Washington on Aug. 20. The chief executive of Real Wood Floors, Cobb was a veteran of such proceedings… In the preceding weeks, the Trump administration had floated a proposal to place punitive import tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods, and the politics of global trade had suddenly burst into the headlines. …For Cobb and the 247 employees of Real Wood’s affiliated companies, the stakes were high. Their business is exporting hardwood … Missouri to their partners in China, who mill it into… designer flooring. …Real Wood [then] sells it to high-end builders from coast to coast — an ocean-spanning supply chain that nevertheless keeps costs down.