Well, Take That Supreme Court!

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By the WSJ Editorial Board (2/23/26) ... 

"Well, that will show the Supreme Court—or something. President Trump is reacting to his Friday tariff defeat not by calming the trade waters but by roiling them further. He is aiming in fury at the Supreme Court, but he will end up hitting the economy and Republicans in Congress.

The larger reality is that Mr. Trump is so bull-headed about tariffs that he’s going to re-impose them any way he can. Along with Section 122, he’ll fire up more Section 201, 301 and 232 (national security) studies and tariffs. But as our friend Don Luskin points out, these are pea shooters compared to the IEEPA tariffs the Court struck down. They are limited in scope and duration."

Access full commentary here on The Unending Trump Tariff Mess.

Are the Tariffs Working?

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The question is: How much better would the economy be now without the tariffs and their on-again, off-again imposition? 

Find out from the WSJ Editorial Board.

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 February 1, 2026, we average more than 900,000 readers on a monthly basis. 

Today in Global Small Business: How Businesses Are Manipulating ChatGPT Results

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

• Great article by Christopher Mims in the WSJ (gifted so you should get access) on how businesses are manipulating ChatGPT results.
• "Deciding What Matters Most" – Success On Her Terms wegginar® hosted by Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global, considered the best resource for women entrepreneurs and business owners who want to learn from other women business owners on how to expand their businesses globally, featuring episode #2 with Nancy Sharp, founder and CEO, Food for Thought Enterprises.  Register free of charge here thanks to the Baldwin Marcovici Group (Merrill Lynch).
• Quote of the week:  "Beijing benefits when the U.S. damages its own standing or retreats from global leadership, but China's own efforts to project state-sponsored soft power have produced mixed results." – Lizzi Lee, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute
• U.S. opens doors to tariffs on imports from countries supplying oil to Cuba.
• How to increase sales in the clothing business.
• How to lead when confidence is down, pressure is up and there's more uncertainty ahead.

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 February 1, 2026, we have more than 900,000 readers on a monthly basis.

Show Your Support for Evan Gershkovich

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The Wall Street Journal is offering resources for people who want to show their support across social media for Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in Russia on March 29 during a reporting trip. He remains in a Moscow prison on espionage charges. The Journal and the U.S. government vehemently deny the allegations and have called for his immediate release.

Download this collection of media assets to surface and share across their personal social-media accounts—from Twitter and Facebook to LinkedIn, Instagram and beyond. They can be added as user profile photos, banners or posts.  Act now.

Let us not forget about Paul Whelan, the ex-US Marine jailed in Russia as well.

How to Balance Times Zones and Leverage Your Digital Savviness to Communicate More Effectively No Matter Your Location

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Tackling the challenges of working overseas is no cakewalk.  Digital news editor for the Wall Street Journal, Josée Rose says:

While the positives outweigh the negatives, living overseas when working for a U.S.-based company comes with obstacles, especially when working for a 24/7 organization in a nonstop news cycle.

After two years as a digital news editor at WSJ in London, Josée shares her tips for balancing time zones, advocating for yourself when you’re not in the room where it happens, and leveraging your digital savviness to communicate more effectively (no matter your location).

I Wasn't Trying to Build a Global Company

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In a recent opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, "I wasn't trying to build a global company."

Instead, he just realized you could find almost anything on the internet—music, books, information—except the thing that matters most: people.

And that was the beginning of Facebook (2004), which currently has more than 2.7 billion monthly users worldwide (Q3 2018, most recent report available).

Learn more about Mark Zuckerberg's business model and read the opinion piece here.

Wake Up World: The Future of Computing Is Here

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David Gelernter, Professor of Computer Science at Yale, offers his fresh and compelling view on future computing, including his new concept called "lifestreams." Worth a read.

The idea, though, of lifestreams has been catching on. A lifestream is a way of organizing digital objects—photos, emails, documents, Web links, music—in a time-ordered series. A timeline, in essence, that extends into the past but also the future (with appointments, to-do lists, etc.). Facebook, with its "wall" constantly updated with postings by you and your friends, is a lifestream. Twitter's feed is a lifestream. "Chatter," developed by Salesforce.com for internal use by client companies, is a lifestream.

Rethinking the Digital Future

More on David at Edge and Wikipedia

How to Rev Up American Exports

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The Wall Street Journal's David Wessel moderates a discussion on the U.S. trade gap and how to fire up the export engines. Read the edited excerpts of the conversation below.

Building a U.S. export economy start with a new mind-set for companies

Here's one comment:

Only 1% of U.S. firms today are exporters. In a sense, U.S. firms have never had the export muscle—or to the extent that they had it, that muscle has atrophied over time.

And one of four recommendations:

1. GLOBALIZE ATTITUDES OF U.S. BUSINESS

To ensure growth, U.S. businesses should recognize the importance of developing foreign markets, including locally based products and services. They should set targets and goals for increasing participation in foreign markets and encourage more U.S. nationals to live abroad for a period. Government can help by providing support and education to smaller and medium-size businesses to increase their exports.

Related article:

Leading with a Global Mindset (1998) by Laurel Delaney

Global Rebalancing

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What is global rebalancing?

The idea is to change the world economy so that it relies less on American consumers and more on shoppers in China, Germany and other countries with big trade surpluses. The aim is to build a firmer foundation for global growth and avoid financial instability.

Easier said than done?  You bet.  Learn more here.

Expansion Lies in Selling Foreign Markets

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According to the Commerce Department, U.S. exports grew by almost 17% to $1.8 trillion last year.  Imports jumped nearly 20%, pushing the annual trade deficit up to almost $498 billion, a 32.8% increase that marked the biggest percentage gain in a decade.

And look at what the big focus is:

With developed economies growing slowly, U.S. companies are recognizing that expansion lies in selling to other foreign markets—some that were long seen as competitors. The Obama administration is pushing that perspective to achieve its goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2014.

Read more here.

Posted by:  The Global Small Business Blog

Leaving Your Heart In Argentina

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Exploring a new country, buying a vineyard and starting a new life is not the easiest thing in the world to do.

Learn about how a couple pulled it off here:

Moving to Argentina

A Revival in Global Economic Activity

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Exports during the month hit their highest level since August 2008, the month before the financial crisis.

"More and more of our exports have started going to the faster-growing regions in Asia, Latin America and Canada," said Morgan Stanley economist Ted Wieseman. "It highlights that the emerging markets never really had much of a slowdown at all. They've continued to outperform throughout the crisis."

Exports of industrial supplies were particularly strong, rising 8%, driven by chemicals and plastics. Food exports also surged. Among the big gains: Soybean exports jumped to almost $2.4 billion, an all-time high, from $1.8 billion in September.

Read the entire article here.

If You Were to Bet on Growth, Where Will It Come From?

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According to Abbott Laboratories Chief Executive Miles D. White:

... he has assembled a business in fast-growing countries that the company will count on for a big part of its growth.
"Where do you think the growth in the world is going to come from?" Mr. White asked during an interview at his suburban Chicago office, a few miles from Lake Michigan. "Would you bet on the U.S.? Would you bet on Western Europe? It's going to come from emerging markets."

The article goes on further to say:

Now, the fast-growing emerging-market economies are much more attractive. Expanding middle classes in such countries as Brazil, South Korea and Turkey are not only spending more on health care, but their rising affluence has contributed to increasing rates of diabetes, heart disease and other conditions that once had been limited to developed markets. Some governments, notably China's, are beginning to provide insurance to pay for health care.

Read the entire article here.

Global Strategy: For the Time Being Avoid the U.S.A.

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China's biggest search engine company, Baidu Inc., is more dominant than ever now due to Google's pullback (moved its search to Hong Kong due to censorship demands that were placed on Google by China government).

Baidu's 41-year-old founder and CEO Robin Li has to figure out how to grow the business amid investor concerns on just where the growth will come from since there will be an intentional avoidance of the U.S.A. market for now.

More than two-thirds of China's population is still not on the Internet so there is room for Baidu to squeeze out additional local growth over the next 5-10 years.

But other revenue streams will be critical for Baidu to maintain and sustain its position in the local and global marketplace.

Read the interesting Bosstalk interview conducted by Owen Fletcher (WSJ) with Robin Li (at Baidu's Beijing headquarter office) -- here.

Posted by: Laurel Delaney, The Global Small Business Blog

Do Not Fear the Globalization of Higher Education

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The new global brain race is intensely competitive.

Read all about it here.

Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

P&G Extends Reach to Some of the Most Populous Countries in the World

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The U.S. and Europe are in a slump so Procter and Gamble plans to target India -- where consumers remain a tough sell -- for its international expansion push.

Read more here.

P&G India here. P&G India: brands.

Exports Strengthen Global Trade

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According to the Commerce Department, the U.S. trade deficit expanded 2.5% to $40.4 billion in March, compared with the prior month.

The March rise in exports and imports was a positive indicator for U.S. demand, as well as for international trade, signaling that more economies around the world are recovering from the downturn.
U.S. exports rose 3.2% to a seasonally adjusted $147.9 billion, while imports increased 3.1% to $188.3 billion.

Read more here.
Posted by: The Global Small Business Blog

Export Transportation Bottlenecks

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The United States is experiencing its own export renaissance due to a generally weak dollar and a push by the Obama administration to double exports in five years.

But the one thing nobody is talking about? Shipping bottlenecks.

It's the opposite of what one might expect. Carriers have a surplus of ships. And since the U.S. still imports more than it exports, freighters arrive in America looking for export cargo to take back, so they don't have to go home empty. Yet American producers of everything from hazelnuts to cardboard are complaining they can't get their goods shipped in timely fashion. Eighty rail cars filled with dried peas sat for weeks on train tracks outside Seattle, waiting for a ship to India. Wheat for Asia is stuck in a warehouse in North Dakota.

It's a challenge.

Read more here.

Learn Global Business Etiquette

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If you are in the process of expanding abroad, avoid cultural gaffes by learning local business etiquette in the country you are about to do business.

This article offers some good tips by business owners and experts in the trenches on how to immerse yourself in a country's culture to better understand the people, respect their ways and be sensitive about never offending.

Expanding Abroad? Avoid Cultural Gaffes

You might also check out our 8 Global Marketing Gaffes.

Guess Who's Leading the World Out of a Downturn?

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If you immediately thought Asia is leading us out of the downturn, you're right. Specifically, Hong Kong shows a burst of activity in consumer consumption.

An excerpt from the WSJ article, "Consumers Spend Asia Out of a Downturn."

"Chinese consumers are buying," says Dong Tao, regional Asia economist for Credit Suisse in Hong Kong. "Job prospects are good." Add what he calls "the spice of asset appreciation" in property and stocks, and folks feel richer.
All of that is good news for the world economy, which has relied on Asia to pull the world out of recession. The International Monetary Fund forecasts inflation adjusted growth in developing Asia will be 7.3% in 2010, compared to 3.1% globally. China has accounted for more than half of the world's economic growth the past three years, according to the IMF.

Still, Asia must rely on its exports to not just survive but to really thrive. More here.

Note: In observance of Christmas tomorrow, be sure to watch for our special holiday post.