Tariffs Have Been Particularly Costly for Global Small Businesses

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Summary:  The Federal Reserve reports that small businesses were less likely to be able to avoid tariff costs during 2025 and are more pessimistic about employment and revenue in 2026. 

Small businesses were "particularly challenged by higher tariffs in 2025," reports the Federal Reserve of New York, drawing on last year's annual Small Business Credit Survey.

Most small businesses in the Federal Reserve survey said they responded to higher costs by increasing prices for consumers. Looking ahead, small business owners expressed "greater pessimism about generating employment and revenues in 2026" due to the tariffs.

Tariffs aren't saving American manufacturing or helping Main Street businesses. They are a burden, and the evidence shows that small employers are particularly vulnerable.

Today in Global Small Business: Will New Tariffs Help or Hurt Global Small Businesses?

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What's affecting me, my clients, my colleagues and other global small business owners:

• Will tariffs help or hurt global small businesses?
• Global small business owners are worried about Trump tariffs.
• Quote of the week: “Smoot and Hawley ginned up The Tariff Act of 1930 to get America back to work after the Stock Market Crash of '29. Instead, it destroyed trade so effectively that by 1932, American exports to Europe were just a third of what they had been in 1929. World trade fell two-thirds as other nations retaliated. Jobs evaporated." – Elaine Chao
• What proposed tariffs could mean for American manufacturing.
• Tariffs didn't make American manufacturing great again.
• Is it a good idea for US manufacturing on Trump's proposed tariffs?