New tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports will put small businesses and family farmers at a competitive disadvantage. We’ve heard from a number of small business owners who said that any cost increases can be devastating for businesses already operating on thin margins. And large tariffs like 25% would mean most small businesses have no choice but to pass their costs on to customers. Larger businesses, however, are more likely to have flexibility to absorb increased overhead, keeping prices lower and undercutting their smaller competition. At a time when inflation was already spiking, even consumers who may prefer to shop small are more likely to buy big if there is a significant price difference for similar products. We’ve also heard from small business owners who would be happy to purchase products made in the United States if they could; the reality is that they simply cannot either because those products are too expensive or because the industries that supply what they need relocated offshore decades ago.
Press Releases
Statement from Small Business Majority Founder & CEO John Arensmeyer on the impact Trump administration tariffs will have on America’s entrepreneurs
Washington, D.C. – The Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) and Small Business Majority (SBM) are proud to announce a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), marking a significant step forward in advancing economic opportunities for small businesses nationwide.
Statement from Small Business Majority Founder & CEO John Arensmeyer on why the U.S. House of Representatives should not have advanced a budget proposal that slashes healthcare, funding programs
The budget resolution adopted by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives brings Congress one step closer to gutting programs that many small businesses and their employees rely on for access to healthcare and sources of capital.
Statement from Small Business Majority Founder & CEO John Arensmeyer on why the U.S. House of Representatives should not adopt a budget proposal that slashes programs benefiting small firms
Paying for unnecessary and irresponsible tax cuts for the top 1% by gutting small business-focused programs, federal assistance and social safety nets will cause irreparable harm to Main Street businesses nationwide. Millions of small business owners rely on a wide array of federal programs across numerous agencies to support not only the growth and development of their business, but the health and economic wellbeing of themselves and their employees.
Statement from Small Business Majority Founder & CEO John Arensmeyer about small business support for the IRS and the impact that reduced staffing will have on entrepreneurs
Reports that the Trump administration will fire 3,500 IRS agents working in the division that oversees small businesses and the self-employed is at odds with what small businesses want and need. Our research has found that small business owners agree that the IRS needs continued additional funding to support them, and a large majority believe that additional funding is needed to properly audit large corporations and wealthy taxpayers, as well as offer improved customer service overall.
Small Business Majority Founder & CEO John Arensmeyer issued the following statement on the confirmation of former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler to lead the U.S. Small Business Administration:
Kelly Loeffler’s opportunity to lead the U.S. Small Business Administration comes at a precarious moment. Although few corners of the federal government have been spared from the Trump administration’s horrific, draconian staffing cuts and crippling funding freezes, the Small Business Administration was hit especially hard as approximately 20% of its workforce has already been let go. And given this administration’s pathological obsession with cutting almost anything and everything linked to DEI initiatives, we are deeply concerned about the future of the 8(a) Business Development Program, which was specifically designed to support historically disadvantaged entrepreneurs who traditionally struggle to access critical loans to start and grow their businesses.
Statement from Small Business Majority Founder & CEO John Arensmeyer in response to the Trump administration’s firing of SBA staff and freezing of federal funds
The actions of the Trump administration that would dismantle the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is misguided. The fact that SBA staff size has already been cut by 720 workers would mean that the agency has lost approximately 20% of its workforce. Given that SBA was already understaffed, this raises serious doubts about the ability of the agency to adequately serve the millions of small businesses that rely on SBA for everything from launching to expanding to surviving natural disasters.
Voice of Main Street, a new quarterly survey of Small Business Majority’s network, reveals small businesses worry that Trump administration policies will harm their businesses and the U.S. economy as a whole
Washington, D.C.— Small business owners are worried about the impacts of core Trump administration policies, including announced tariffs on many imports and the mass deportation of immigrants, according to a recent survey.
Statement from Small Business Majority Founder & CEO John Arensmeyer about the importance of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to small firms
We are deeply concerned by reports that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in his capacity as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), has directed CFPB staff to stop all work immediately. The CFPB has been a critical safeguard for small businesses, helping to enact transparent and fair standards for sound loan practices and payment processing procedures, and securing refunds and fines for predatory financial practices, as well as delivering honest information to entrepreneurs and consumers. It’s no wonder that Small Business Majority’s research has found that small businesses overwhelmingly support the agency and say it’s needed to help ensure that they are treated fairly.
Statement from Small Business Majority Founder & CEO John Arensmeyer on the impact that indefinitely delayed federal grants and loans will have on small businesses struggling to recover from natural disasters
The Trump administration’s decision to broadly freeze federal grants and loans until further notice will have a devastating impact on small businesses nationwide. Small Business Administration (SBA) disaster relief funds are among the loans impacted, and the timing could not be worse. Countless businesses in California, Texas, North Carolina and Florida are struggling to rebound from major natural disasters, and many have already experienced delayed recovery because Congress allowed SBA disaster loan funds to run dry last year.
