Today in Global Small Business: Can America Dodge a Tariff Bullet?

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

• Can American dodge a tariff bullet?
• Move to Canada?  Migrants face 'No good options' after supreme court ruling.
• It appears the deals that Trump is negotiating with law firms are not legally valid.
• Quote of the week:  “As history has repeatedly proven, one trade tariff begets another, then another - until you've got a full-blown trade war. No one ever wins, and consumers always get screwed." – Mark McKinnon
• Did he [Elon Musk] or didn't he use drugs during the 2024 presidential campaign?
• EU 'prepared to impose countermeasures' after Trump doubles steel tariffs to 50%.

Today in Global Small Business: European Union (EU) Small Business Export Report (eBay)

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

• eBay publishes a new report on European Union (EU) small business exporting.  Direct access to report can be found here.
• How weather and other factors are impacting fruit exports from Peru.
• Quote of the week: “When I returned to the United States after three years of World War II service, my total assets consisted of one wife, one small daughter, $276 in the bank, and an idea. The idea was for an export business to supply items badly needed everywhere in Europe." – E. Joseph Cossman
• Every G20 economy's top export market.
• Amid the global green goods boom, India is yet to jump on the bandwagon.
• Innovation linked to international exports for both rural and urban firms.

The Big Divorce: Britain and the EU

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Britain officially left the EU in January and has spent the last 11 months in a transitional phase while the two sides try to negotiate a new free trade agreement to avert major disruptions at borders and more economic damage.  The transition ends at midnight Brussels time on December 31, 2020.

Here are some of the top issues still to be settled.

Today in Global Small Business: Women Entrepreneurs Are Pushing Boundaries and Targeting the World for Business

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

• Women entrepreneurs are pushing boundaries, shaking things up, and targeting the world for business.
• If you are based in Des Moines, Iowa, get a lesson from Facebook on how to find customers.
• EU joins global battle against USA Trump tariff onslaught.
• What it is like to travel and meet with startups around the world.
• Why the startup community must defend merit-based immigration.
• WEGGinar™, Wednesday, June 6 at 11:00 a.m. Central Time, "Grow Globally by Offering Competitive Financing Solutions" and presented by Tamara Maxwell, Director, Minority and Women Owned Business & Multiplier Outreach Division, Office of Small Business, Export-Import Bank of the United States.  Q&A fielded by Chantal Wittman, WEGG Board Member and VP of International Trade Sales, International Banking Division, MB Financial.  Special guest:  Laura Blodgett, who holds both the corporate Treasury Analyst role and the Accounts Receivable/Credit Administrator role for one of the divisions of Jergens, Inc.  WEGGinar™ is free of charge, thanks to the generous support of global sponsors: UPS, IBM and Bank of America – go here to register: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7394069852172520451.

Today in Global Small Business: Is Britain Better Off in the EU?

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

• How to combat the selling of products below market prices (e.g., steel).
• Why is it important to have a written agreement with a party you are about to conduct business with overseas?
• Seven global trade tips to build satisfying and fruitful business relationships.
• Why China won't overtake the United States.
• What predicts whether someone will be happy on this earth?
• Is Britain better off in the EU?  And if they leave?

Is There a Lack of Confidence in the Global Market?

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In the UK, nearly a third of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) delayed their investment plans in the third quarter as a result of uncertainty in the EU.

“Ongoing macro-economic issues, such as a potential 'Grexit' [referred to as Greek exit] and a lack of confidence in the global economy, as well as national challenges, such as less friendly dividend tax rules introduced in George Osborne’s Summer Budget, appear to have contributed to a drop in the Smith & Williamson Enterprise Index to 114.4, five points lower than its record high of 119.4 three months ago,” said Guy Rigby, head of entrepreneurial services at Smith & Williamson.

One other finding:

“87% of SME owners [in the UK] thought the government should provide more support to help businesses export,” said Stephen Drew, head of international services at Smith & Williamson.

Read more:  Third of small businesses delay investment plans over EU uncertainty

Adapt to Global Trade

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In the past, China has taken a conservative profile in organizations such as the World Trade Organization (WTO). But now, its getting more adapted and flexing its muscles to global trade rules, as exemplified in its recent complaint to the WTO on an anti-dumping dispute with the European Union (EU).

Read more here and here.

Liquid Borders?

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Shipping goods from one country to another has always been a paper-intensive process. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, every container that crosses international borders generates 30 different documents. That adds up to roughly five billion documents a year.

But the EU, in partnership with IBM and the Free University of Amsterdam, plans to do away with all that paper, and instead have imported goods counted, monitored and evaluated for tax automatically, without producing a single sheet.

Sound unbelievable? Read more here (immediate download of PDF file): A pilot between the EU and IBM could introduce paperless shipping.