{"id":9731,"date":"2025-02-17T13:01:03","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T05:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=9731"},"modified":"2025-02-17T13:01:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T05:01:07","slug":"small-businesses-struggle-to-find-their-footing-one-month-into-trump-2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=9731","title":{"rendered":"Small businesses struggle to find their footing one month into Trump 2.0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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President Donald Trump tapped into his pro-business reputation on the campaign trail in pitching voters on his economic agenda.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s first weeks in office have brought a flurry of changes from funding freezes<\/a> and tariffs<\/a> to a crackdown on diversity efforts<\/a>. While courts have halted some of them, small businesses faced with higher costs<\/a>, steep interest rates<\/a> and more cautious consumers<\/a> share a similar message: This isn\u2019t helping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David Funk said he was stunned when the U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected his $65,000 invoice for work his company had completed since October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The founder of Zero Emissions Northwest, a Spokane, Washington-based consultancy, Funk connects farmers with federal grants to subsidize equipment purchases and energy bills. A week after his invoice denial, agency representatives confirmed it was because of Trump\u2019s \u201cUnleashing American Energy\u201d order<\/a>, which halted many projects funded through the Inflation Reduction Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat it\u2019s resulting in is jobs lost, projects canceled and more jobs lost,\u201d said Funk, who furloughed all three of his employees about two weeks ago. Many of his clients are now stuck with equipment they can\u2019t finance on their own. \u201cIt is shocking to some of them who have voted for Trump to realize that this might directly impact them,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weeks after the Office of Management and Budget rescinded<\/a> the sweeping freeze on grants and loans<\/a> it had issued days earlier, Shaundell Newsome, founder of Sumnu Marketing in Las Vegas, said his agency\u2019s internships could still be on the chopping block. The program, with space for four interns per year, is sustained by a Labor Department grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sumnu Marketing founder Shaundell Newsome.\u00a9\u00a0Courtesy Shaundell Newsome<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a ton of confusion about what\u2019s real and what\u2019s not real,\u201d he said of the federal directives. \u201cIf we don\u2019t have those dollars to offset the training now, we\u2019ve got to make a business decision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newsome still plans to make his next hire in March, after the agency that disburses the funds said they remained on track to reach him on schedule. But he\u2019s concerned about funding for the rest of the year, including a summer program for high schoolers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Funk shared that sense of urgency. \u201cNot getting paid due to a canceled contract and not getting paid due to a paused contract has the same result: We\u2019re not getting paid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While small businesses remain broadly optimistic about the months ahead, the National Federation of Independent Business\u2019 latest survey also found that members\u2019 uncertainty hit its third-highest level<\/a> on record. Many reported curtailing plans to invest in their businesses, wary of tapping cash reserves should economic conditions deteriorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the leaders<\/a> of major tech firms<\/a> have been personally courting<\/a> the president\u2019s favor<\/a>, and there are signs of executives warming up<\/a> to an administration promising deeper tax cuts and deregulation. But the nation\u2019s 33 million small businesses<\/a>, which employ nearly half the U.S. workforce and account for over 43% of economic output, typically have less lobbying clout or margin to adapt<\/a> to federal policy swings, advocates say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to see more parity,\u201d said Richard Trent, executive director of Main Street Alliance, a coalition of more than 30,000 small businesses. Trent criticized the \u201coligarchic acolytes\u201d who he said appeared to be in Trump\u2019s \u201cinner circle\u201d and called for a more \u201cnuanced conversation where everyone\u2019s included.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A White House spokesperson didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s business-friendly reputation was one of the leading factors that helped return him to the White House<\/a>. While the U.S. averaged 443,302 monthly business applications<\/a> during the first three years of the Biden administration as the economy recovered from Covid-19, compared with 282,362 in the equivalent period of Trump\u2019s first term, many entrepreneurs recall the current president\u2019s earlier time in office favorably. The NFIB\u2019s optimism index soared at the time, buoyed in part by Trump\u2019s tax cuts, and interest rates and inflation both remained historically low until the pandemic hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, some small-business owners are now taking steps to insulate themselves from the potential negative impacts of recent White House efforts \u2014 including those that remain in limbo \u2014 before waiting to see how it all shakes out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly after the election, Beatrice Barba told NBC News<\/a> she was looking to purchase $200,000 worth of her regular inventory ahead of Trump\u2019s promised tariff. The sippy cups she sells at Tabor Place, her San Francisco Bay Area e-commerce line of children\u2019s goods, rely on a durable borosilicate glass from a Chinese manufacturer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tabor Place owner Beatrice Barba.\u00a9\u00a0Courtesy Beatrice Barba<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But in recent weeks, Barba has opted to gamble on less cash-intensive measures. She\u2019s reduced the order to $100,000 to avoid having the products sit idle for too long, and while some of her other items need to be restocked \u2014 at an expected $50,000 cost \u2014 she\u2019s holding off for now. Barba said she suspects Trump\u2019s 10% additional tariffs on China<\/a> could change or go away in trade negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s an extra 5,000 bucks. I don\u2019t want to have to spend that,\u201d she said. \u201cTen percent is a lot. There is no company, retail or otherwise, that would not be forced to pass that margin on to their customers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barba said there are ways the administration could help small businesses directly, such as by offering loans to build more U.S. factories so companies like hers could rely less on components made overseas. She\u2019d also like to see tariff exemptions for employers of fewer than 50 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The full effects of Trump\u2019s economic policies remain to be seen. In a note to clients this month, JPMorgan analysts posed the question, \u201cIs this a business friendly administration?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They highlighted the potential economic drag created by abrupt, sweeping changes to U.S. policy, including mass deportations that the White House is looking to ramp up<\/a>. The impact of moves like these could be magnified \u201cthrough a tightening in labor markets that constrains Fed easing,\u201d they said, flagging the risk that more uncertainty could delay interest rate cuts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The longer steep borrowing costs persist, the more Main Street entrepreneurs could suffer a disproportionate squeeze, said Joe Seydl, senior markets economist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSmall businesses tend to be more leveraged than larger businesses,\u201d he said. \u201cThey tend to borrow more at the short end of the yield curve, rather than the long end, and they tend to have significantly less cash holdings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Corrine Hendrickson, owner of Corrine\u2019s Little Explorers Daycare.\u00a9\u00a0Courtesy Corrine Hendricks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Corrine Hendrickson, owner of a day care center in New Glarus, Wisconsin, said she has \u201can extra layer of concern because I don\u2019t have access to capital.\u201d She began scrambling upon learning of last month\u2019s funding freeze, unsure if she could sustain her business without the Child Care and Development Block Grant that subsidizes care for a number of her clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[One parent] saw the news and was concerned she wouldn\u2019t get the funding, and wasn\u2019t sure how they would pay me the next month, and what that would mean. Would I expel him?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hendrickson said the subsidies resumed on Feb. 1, soon after the White House lifted its funding freeze following a court ruling that halted it<\/a>. But she\u2019s nervously watching as Republicans pursue deep spending cuts<\/a> to accommodate Trump\u2019s agenda, with one proposal calling for potential cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that helps fund the healthy meals Hendricks provides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She\u2019s also worried that the child care grant itself, which is run through the Department of Health and Human Services, could be on the chopping block. Hours after his confirmation as head of the department<\/a> this week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hinted at firings<\/a> in a televised interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An HHS representative said in an email that \u201cthere are no current cuts, pauses, or disruptions to the Child Care and Development Block Grant.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Hendrickson said she\u2019s wondering, \u201cDo I continue to do this, or do I look for a different job?\u201d She added: \u201cIt really just makes me nervous that I will be able to maintain my program and my business, and my life\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CORRECTION: (Feb. 16, 2025, 11:40 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article misnamed the owner of Corrine\u2019s Little Explorers. Her last name is Hendrickson, not Hendricks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump\u2019s first weeks in office have brought a flurry of changes from funding freezes and tariffs to a crackdown on diversity efforts. While courts have halted some of them, small businesses faced with higher costs, steep interest rates and more cautious consumers share a similar message: This isn\u2019t helping. David Funk said he was stunned when the U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":9732,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[3111,1754,1724],"class_list":["post-9731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-into","tag-president","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nSmall businesses struggle to find their footing one month into Trump 2.0 - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=9731\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Small businesses struggle to find their footing one month into Trump 2.0 - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President Donald Trump\u2019s first weeks in office have brought a flurry of changes from funding freezes and tariffs to a crackdown on diversity efforts. 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