Today in Global Small Business: Uncertainty Over the Strait of Hormuz

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

• The United States and Iranian militaries have offered conflicting accounts over whether the crucial waterway is open, which impacts business owners who import with continued supply chain shocks, skyrocketing freight and fuel costs, and complex contract disputes.
• We've got a problem ... Iranian state media said 6/21/26 that Trump’s comments violated the preliminary peace deal signed Wednesday, which bars the two sides from attacking or threatening each other.
• Trump threatens fresh attacks on Iran.
• Quote of the week:  “You close it, and you won’t have a country,” Trump said of the Strait of Hormuz (6/21/26)
• Deal or no deal?
• Trump warns Tehran "we will take over your country if the Strait of Hormuz is closed."

Note:  The Global Small Business Blog has been in operation since 2004 and is ranked number one in the world for entrepreneurs and small businesses interested in going global.  As of May, 2026, we average between 700,000-900,000 readers a month.  Thank you for your engagement! 

If Convicted, Cole Allen Faces the Prospect of Life In Prison For Attempt to Assassinate the USA President

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Secret Service agents responded to a shooting at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on Saturday evening (4/25/26).  President Trump and other administration officials were rushed out, and a suspect, Cole Allen, was arrested.

Federal prosecutors formally charged the alleged gunman Cole Allen at the White House correspondents' dinner with three counts on Monday, including attempting to assassinate the president.

Read on to learn some very surprising facts about Cole Allen.

How to Sugarcoat War News Until It Feels Like Cotton Candy

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There is something uniquely Trumpian about the way the president is handling the first full-bore active military conflict of his two terms in office. Fixated on his press coverage since his early days as a real estate developer, Mr. Trump has both accused mainstream reporters of treason and engaged with them on a close, personal level.

Read the entire article, "With Threats and Claims of 'Treason,' Trump Pressures Media on the War."

Today in Global Small Business: Global Economy Shows Signs of Subdued Growth

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

• Global economy shows signs of subdued growth.
• Here's (almost everything) Wall Street expects in 2026.
• Quote of the week:  "No tariff opinion." – post by Mark Walsh
• How tariff disruption will continue reshaping the global economy in 2026.
• Tariffs funded everything in 2026.  Will it continue?  See next bullet point.
• Yes.  Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump (Tariffs).

Don't You Love Thomas Friedman's Opinion Pieces?

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In Thomas Friedman's latest Opinion piece for The New York Times (8/19/25), he says:  

"I am really trying to be fair in analyzing the Trump-Putin-Zelensky-Europe drama that has been playing out the past few weeks. I am trying to balance President Trump’s commendable desire to end the murderous war in Ukraine with the utterly personalized, seat-of-the-pants, often farcical way he is going about it — including the energy that everyone involved has to expend feeding his ego and avoiding his wrath, before they even get to the hellish compromises needed to make peace.

For now, the whole thing leaves me deeply uncomfortable."

Dear readers, find out why.

Tough Obstacles To Ending the War in Ukraine

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The simple fact that recent meetings between Trump and Zelenskyy, and the larger gathering of European leaders, was conducted in a friendly, co-operative fashion is itself notable given Zelensky's acrimonious White House visit in February and the sometimes contentious relations Trump has had with his European counterparts.

"If I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons," he [Trump] said in a Tuesday television interview.

But the path to heaven is narrow, as the saying goes, and there are still numerous obstacles to ending the war in Ukraine.

Trump: Turning the Military Against American Citizens

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Standing up for American citizens and the Nation’s foundational ban on martial law in peacetime, California Governor Newsom and Attorney General Bonta are requesting the court step in to immediately block the Trump administration’s unnecessary militarization of Los Angeles to include immigration enforcement in communities.

“The President is looking for any pretense to place military forces on American streets to intimidate and quiet those who disagree with him. It’s not just immoral — It’s illegal and dangerous." – Attorney General Bonta

Read more about the lawsuit here. 

Today in Global Small Business: The Musk/Trump Relationship Is Over

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

• It's over.  Trump and Musk are no longer a thing.
• On the campaign trail last year, Donald Trump promised that he was not going to tolerate left-wing lawlessness on American streets and would use the full force of his presidential powers in response. See how peaceful protests can be escalated by people in power.
• The surprising impact of Trump's tariffs on American farmers.
• Quote of the week:  “The primary reason for a tariff is that it enables the exploitation of the domestic consumer by a process indistinguishable from sheer robbery." – Albert J. Nock
  
• Tariffs could reduce federal debt but at what cost?
• Who's paying for the tariffs?  YOU are.

TACO

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The term “TACO,” short for Trump Always Chickens Out, has been used to describe how markets tumble on the president’s tariff threats, then rebound when he gives way.  Here's what happened when Trump was asked about it by a reporter. 

Today in Global Small Business: Rebranding DEI

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

• In the US, DEI is under attack. But under a different name, it might live on.  Let's hope so.  Further, the speed at which some large corporations have shed their DEI policies raises the question of how genuine their commitment to diversifying their workforces was in the first place [Laurel Delaney agrees].
• Trump's The State of Chaos address on Tuesday, March 5, 2025.  What will he say?  
• Quote of the week:  Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has said that he would cut "stupid" DEI costs even without Donald Trump. However, he has also reaffirmed the bank's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). 
• The White House is making clear it views President Donald Trump’s Friday Oval Office showdown with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as an overwhelming failure that underscores Trump’s “America last” leadership, dispatching top officials and allies to muzzle Trump’s handling of the situation even as European leaders are expressing zero support for Ukraine and its leader.  That my fellow readers is fake news.  Here's the real messaging the White House crafted here.
• Goodbye Skype.
• How facilitating cross-border payments is helping build businesses and communities worldwide, while fostering a new generation of global small business owners.

Today in Global Small Business: Originally Called Washington's Birthday, Presidents Day 2/17/25

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

• Presidents Day, the holiday was originally called Washington's Birthday and celebrates the birthdays of former presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, according to the National Archives. It was also the first federal holiday to honor an individual's birth date.
• Threatening the global economy with Trump's one-for-one tariff plan (might require subscription).
• Quote of the week: “Men do not get up and do mischief, without there is someone in the head of it." – Andrew Jackson
• Brushing (keeping) up with Trump's tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China.
• The biggest change is the new 10% U.S. tariff on all Chinese-made goods, which went into effect immediately. Unlike previous tariffs, this applies to all products of Chinese origin, regardless of where they are shipped from. Good tariff overview for 2025.
• According to Trump, everything is about tariffs.

Something Snapped In Us

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After US President Donald Trump threatened Canada with steep tariffs, Monika Morelli from Montreal cancelled her subscriptions to Netflix and Amazon, two giant American companies.  She also called off a trip that she had planned for later in the year to New Orleans.

"There is something that has been irrevocably broken now, after centuries of the US and Canada being allies," Ms Morelli, 39, told the BBC.

The threaten of import taxes, she said, plus Trump's remarks that Canada could become the 51st US state, "have made something snap in us all".

Read more about how Trump tariffs have caused a riff beyond repair with Canadians.

Drastically Rethink Your Global Business Strategy If ...

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Now (10/29/24), as former President Donald Trump campaigns on a pledge to hit all goods coming into the country with a 10%-20% tariff, or border tax, which would rise to 60% for goods from China, companies that import from China are having to drastically rethink their strategy.

America, once a global champion of free trade, is about to be taken off its game should Trump be re-elected.  His tariff claims are rejected by most traditional economists, who say the policy would do little to expand employment in the US, while raising costs for everyday Americans and slowing growth around the world.

Today in Global Small Business: Solo Businesses Are Brought Into the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

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

• The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2018/2019 have put a stake in the ground with their entrepreneurship studies by incorporating solo businesses into their research on entrepreneurial ecosystems.
• Who cares what Trump wants from global trade.
• Quote of the week: “Gratitude is not the greatest of virtues, it is the parent of all others.” – Marcus Tullius Cicero
• China's manufacturing is back in expansion mode.
• Shoppers ring up record Thanksgiving sales online; Black Friday’s (11/29/19) tally to exceed $7 billion, Adobe says.
• Why Small Business Saturday is more important than Black Friday (to UK folks).

Do Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners Support Trump?

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Are the Trump administration and Congress doing more for large corporations than they are for small business owners?  According to a new national survey of 1,225 entrepreneurs from the Kauffman Foundation, conducted by Global Strategy Group and Public Opinion Strategies, it seems so.

Considering that Trump lost the popular vote in 2016, he will need every scrap of support he can get to win in 2020, and judging from this new survey data, he may not be able to rely on entrepreneurs and small business owners to get there.

Read the entire article here to find out whether small business owners support Trump.

Middle-Market Leaders Across America Are More Optimistic About the Global and National Economies

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JP Morgan surveyed more than 1,400 middle-market executives, and 80% said they were optimistic about the national economy.

The 2017 Business Leaders Outlook found that business executives from small and mid-sized firms across the US are more optimistic about the global and national economies and think that the Trump administration will be a positive for the country.

What's the cause for the positive outlook?  President Trump is said to be at least part of the optimism.  There's good and bad here.  The good is the possibility of tax reductions and less regulation - positive impact. The bad is over the more protectionist trade policies - negative impact.

Read more here.

Ninety Percent of Trucking Is Made Up of Small Businesses

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Kansas City, Missouri-based Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA), which has 158,000 members nationwide, says it is looking forward to working with Linda McMahon as the newly appointed leader of the Small Business Administration.

“More than ninety percent of trucking is made up of small businesses,” said OOIDA executive vice president, Todd Spencer. “Our hope going forward is to have more recognition and appreciation for the unique contributions that small business truckers add to the prosperity of the U.S and the economy.”

OOIDA was established in 1973.  Linda McMahon was sworn in as SBA leader after Trump was voted in as President of the United States.

Read more at Go By Truck Global News