Trump's Tariffs Are Forcing Global Small Business Owners to Raise Prices

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Many CEOs of small and medium-sized consumer product businesses in the U.S. say President Donald Trump’s tariffs could force them to raise prices before the end of the year.

Last week, Trump updated tariff rates for dozens of countries, ranging from 10% to 41% duties that go into effect starting Aug. 7. Goods that are considered to have been transshipped, or shipped through an intermediate country to disguise where they were originally made to avoid applicable duties, will be hit with an additional 40% rate.

U.S. businesses that stocked up on inventory earlier this year are now starting to run out, they say. When they reorder from their overseas manufacturers, they’ll need to pay steep import costs.

“I’ve been questioning, ‘What is the American Dream?’ because I thought I was living it,” a business owner says. “I served my country, I got an education, I bought a home, I started a business. ... This is not a dream anymore.”

Building the Road to Global Small Business Utopia with AI and Fintech

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Could artificial intelligence help global small business owners gain the insights they need to operate more efficiently and grow?

In the updated edition of Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream, Karen Mills looks at evolving technology and how it might power this critical engine of the US economy.

The American Dream of Global Small Business Ownership

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I'll start with the ending of this Forbes article by Rohit Arora, Contributor for Forbes, because it pretty much sums up his take on President Obama's work on small business initiatives through the course of his presidency:

Naturally, the current economic climate is not without peril. However, the past few years of the Obama Administration have been prosperous ones for entrepreneurs on a number of measures. It is why Americans continue to dream big and why foreigners seek to come here to pursue the American Dream of business ownership.

Rating the Obama Years For Small Business Growth